Within Maine’s Model of School Support as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Maine uses data from Maine’s Education Assessments to define the academic achievement indicator as the number of students scoring at a performance level of 3 (meeting state expectations) or 4 (exceeding state expectations). ESSA requires that each state’s accountability system, in Maine we call it Maine’s Model of School Support, includes academic achievement as measured by performance on the annual state assessments.
Why academic achievement?
Maine’s strategic plan aims for students to graduate from high school workplace ready; academic achievement is a cornerstone of the Maine’s Model of School Support. Maine administers the Maine Educational Assessments (MEAs) annually to measure student performance in English Language Arts (ELA) and math.
What does this look like in Maine?
Using the cut-scores that have been established for each of the performance levels of the state assessment, students earn a performance level ranging from 1 to 4.
1 – Well Below State Expectation
2 – Below State Expectations
3 – Meets State Expectations
4 – Exceeds State Expectations
The state has established the ambitious goals for each school to improve academic achievement in ELA and math by 20% for each individual eligible student group using the 2016 assessment as the baseline year. This equates to a 1.4% increase in academic achievement for each student group, in each subject area, on an annual basis.
The school level descriptors for academic achievement are as follows:
Academic Achievement – English Language Arts (ELA)
| Emerging | Developing | Meeting | Excelling |
| No eligible student group made their annual target | At least one eligible student group made their annual target | All eligible student groups made their annual target | All eligible student groups exceeded their annual target by at least 10% |
Academic Achievement – Mathematics
| Emerging | Developing | Meeting | Excelling |
| No eligible student group made their annual target | At least one eligible student group made their annual target | All eligible student groups made their annual target | All eligible student groups exceeded their annual target by at least 10% |
Where eligible student groups (with an “n” size of 10) include: Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Two or More Races, White, Students with Disabilities, Economically Disadvantaged; migrant students, and English Learners.
Academic achievement will be presented on the school report card in the following way:
The following are examples of elements the user may select to view:
- Performance of specific student populations
- National Assessment of Educational Progress
- English Leaner performance
- Student performance on the Alternate Assessment
Further questions can be directed to Janette Kirk, Acting Director, Office of Learning Systems at Janette.Kirk@maine.gov.