Just for the record PP- it is extremely difficult to become exempt from MSA. For students with special needs and ESOL students, the most common situation is that they are tested individually or in a small group and given their legal accommodations (i.e., the ones on their IEP, not the ones that a teacher uses in addition to ensure learning occurs). For IEP students who have met basic in both math and reading, they can see if they meet the criteria to take MOD-MSA which is a modified version and slightly shorter/easier then the one most students take. And for students who have extreme cases, their MSA goals are written to match the goals on their IEP's. But very few actually become exempt and take no form of the test. ESOL students are exempt their first year of coming in to the USA, and after that are expected to take the test with their ESOL accommodations as mentioned above, no exceptions.

Sorry to hijack the real question here, but I wanted to clarify what I could!

Note to all parents -- if you don't like how focused the principal or teachers are on cramming for this test -- complain complain, complain. Bring it up at a PTA meeting. get a committee working on it, do anything. Principals and teachers are under so much pressure about these test scores. There are no test scores for children't emotional health and well being, being stressed out, etc. If you feel it is a problem, you are likely the only stakeholders who care about your chidlren's emotional well being (teachers probably caer, but there's not that much they can do if the parents don't speak up.) At a minimum demand:

-- no one mentions test scores to children at school
- kids aren't being told "You'll need this on the MSA" but rather, "This is a valuable academic skill you will need in your future!"
-- no use of MSA work packet test prep or very minimal. Instead, all year long, parts of every assignment should involve questions written in test format.

OP, if only 50% of the students in your child's class at at a "high performing" school pass the MSA, that would be a huge problem for the teacher and he or she probably should lose his or her job!

Most schools expect well over 90% of the students to pass these basic, grade level tests -- exceptions for diagnosed special needs, kids just learning English, etc.