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AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Education released state assessment results for the 2015-2016 school year.
“We are confident in this year’s test results, and hope parents, teachers, administrators, and other interested parties will value and utilize the data gathered through the assessment process,” said Dr. Charlene Tucker, Maine DOE’s assessment and accountability team coordinator.
The public may access the results at lms.backpack.education/public/maine.
Key results include:
Assessment participation improved substantially in 2015-16.
50.58% of Maine’s test takers scored At State Expectations (Level 3) or Above State Expectations (Level 4) in English language arts/literacy.
38.31% of Maine’s test takers scored At State Expectations (Level 3) or Above State Expectations (Level 4) in mathematics.
60.97% of Maine’s test takers scored At State Expectations (Level 3) or Above State Expectations (Level 4) in science.
For ELA/literacy and mathematics, 2015-16 is a new baseline year and should not be compared to previous years when different assessments were administered. Based on changes made during the 127th Maine Legislature, the state used a new assessment partner to administer a different state assessment of English language arts/literacy and mathematics in 2015-16.
The new assessments adopted for 2015-2016, eMPowerME (grades 3-8) and SAT (3rd year high school), measure Maine’s college and readiness standards established in 2011. The eMPowerME assessment was delivered by computer.
Results were released later this year than initially planned due to the time necessary to establish achievement levels and process data for brand new assessments, as well as the time it takes to build a new reporting platform. Maine will use the same assessments and the same reporting system for the 2016-17 year and it is planned for results to be available in the summer of 2017.
2015-16 statewide results for English Language Arts/Literacy
The general ELA/literacy assessment, eMPowerME, was taken by most students in grades 3-8. Most students in the third year of high school were assessed using the SAT, which has been adopted as Maine’s ELA/literacy high school assessment. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities were assessed on the Multi-State Alternate Assessment. More information about the ELA/literacy assessments can be found here: maine.gov/doe/assessment/math-ela/home.html. Of the 93,554 students eligible to participate in state assessment of ELA/literacy, 91,208 participated. The participation rate of 97.49 percent is an improvement over the 2014-15 participation rate of 89.92 percent.
2015-16 statewide results for mathematics
The general mathematics assessment, eMPowerME, was taken by most students in grades 3-8. Most students in the third year of high school were assessed using the SAT. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities were assessed on the Multi-State Alternate Assessment. More information about the mathematics assessments can be found here: maine.gov/doe/assessment/math-ela/home.html. Of the 93,915 students eligible to participate in state assessment of mathematics, 91,541 participated. The participation rate of 97.47 percent is an improvement over the 2014-15 participation rate of 89.53 percent.
