MCAS exams are another tool which teachers will begin to use in order to asses their students' academic achievement. Underperforming schools or school districts will need to develop and implement action plans. The State Department of Education and State Board have the authority to take over schools and school districts which they find to be chronically underperforming. Different groups of people often favor one MCAS purpose over the others. For example, parents and educators favor MCAS' diagnostic purposes.
Test scores become like sports scores or the daily reports on the stock market.
A third group may emphasize MCAS' compliance purpose. Governmental bodies such as the State Board of Education need objective data such as MCAS test scores so that it can identify and fix those schools and school districts which do not comply with State performance standards. When these different groups come together to discuss MCAS scores, their differing viewpoints on the purposes and uses of MCAS results may cause conflicts. While there are some similarities between the MEAP and the MCAS, there are many differences and improvements between the two State tests. State officials want to be able to compare results from MEAP and MCAS with the NAEP exams.