Maine DOE announces conditional assessment awardee

The following Priority Notice was distributed on Tuesday, Oct. 20 to superintendents regarding the conditional vendor award to Measured Progress, Inc. for the 2015-16 administration of the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) for Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy.

Dear Educators,

As a result of action during this past Legislative session, Maine will no longer participate in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

We are pleased to announce that the Maine DOE has made a conditional decision, based on a competitive process outlined by the Maine State Division of Purchases, to award Measured Progress, Inc. the contract to develop and deliver our Mathematics and ELA/Literacy assessment in 2015-16. This proposal includes an assessment developed by Measured Progress, Inc. for students in grades 3-8 and the SAT for third year high school students.

We are grateful to the educators who have voiced their recommendations and concerns, particularly those who served on the Assessment Task Force. They helped to shape the Request for Proposals (RFP) that was released on September 9, to solicit prospective contractors. The RFP resulted in five proposals from testing companies interested in serving our state.

We also appreciate the reviewers who read, discussed, and scored the proposals according to carefully specified criteria, and achieved consensus regarding which proposed solution was best for Maine’s students and educators. After departmental and personal review, I have approved the recommendation of Measured Progress, Inc. as the conditional awardee.

Before this decision becomes final, we are required to allow a 15-day window in which competitors have the opportunity to appeal our decision. The State Procurement Review Committee must also review and approve our documentation of the competitive process/decision.

Subsequently, further contract details will be negotiated between the Maine DOE and Measured Progress, Inc. Once those final steps have been completed, we will be in a position to move forward.

If you have questions about Maine’s assessment program, contact Director of Assessment & Accountability Charlene Tucker at charlene.tucker@maine.gov or Chief Academic Officer Rachelle Tome at rachelle.tome@maine.gov.

Sincerely,

William H. Beardsley

17 thoughts on “Maine DOE announces conditional assessment awardee”

  1. Thank you for asking. Once negotiations are complete and a contract is signed with a testing cendor, Maine DOE will then will announce more details.

  2. hi,
    I am just wondering about a timeline for an announcement and dates for the testing. When can we expect a formal decision?

  5. Am I correct in saying that this is really a contract with Measured Progress in conjunction with The College Board?

  8. James, thank you for your question. After the award is no longer “conditional” we will provide additional information and specifics. By law we must allow the 15-day period to pass before moving forward.

  9. Hi Sarah, at this time the award is still considered “conditional” to Measured Progress, Inc. There is a 15-day waiting period where it can be appealed and we still need to negotiate the specifics. We will keep the field informed as this process moves forward and we have definite answers.

  11. Hello, will this be a paper test? Will it be similar to the NECAP used previously?

  13. Is there a decision as to whether or not the SAT will be a school day test or offered on a Saturday?

  14. Will this be an adaptive assessment and will we be able to use it more than once a year? If we could administer it in the Fall and Spring, we could use it for a student growth measure.

  17. What about the 11th grade science assessment? Will the new SAT cover science or will there be a separate assessment as in the past?

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