Test school network speed to help Maine prepare for computerized assessments

As the State of Maine continues to take action on the ConnectED initiative and be certain that we are prepared for the transition to computerized assessments starting next school year, we need to better understand what bandwidth is currently available in the classroom at our schools.

To do this quickly and easily, the Maine DOE is partnering with nonprofit EducationSuperHighway to complete a Maine SchoolSpeedTest this October. SchoolSpeedTest data will help find network bottlenecks, support network planning, demonstrate the need for increased connectivity/hardware funding and support your district readiness for the next generation of student assessments.

Starting Oct. 1, any person on a school network can visit http://partners.schoolspeedtest.org/maine.html to take a free one-minute SchoolSpeedTest and add data to our inventory. To ensure this test provides enough data, the Department is asking for your help to ensure that every school in each district takes a total of 10-20 SpeedTests during the month of October. These SpeedTests can be completed by students, staff, faculty or administrators, and can (and should) be done throughout the school day.

Once the Maine SchoolSpeedTest month ends, your district will receive a report showing the bandwidth available (maximum, minimum and average) in each school, as well as per-student bandwidth, that can help locate bottlenecks and support network planning.

If you would like more information about this program, please feel free to attend one of our webinar/question and answer sessions:

Thursday, Oct. 3, 2 to 3 p.m.
Join the webinar

or

Monday, Oct. 7, 10 to 11 a.m.
Join the webinar

If you are unable to attend either of the webinars, recordings of the webinars will be made available online.

If you would like materials to promote the program within your school(s), you can request them from EducationSuperhighway.

More information

• Thomas Cosgrove
  Educational Technology Planning Coordinator
  Maine Department of Education
  207-624-6653
  thomas.cosgrove@maine.gov