Thank you, educators, school and district leaders, for all the work you’re doing keeping students and families educationally engaged during this challenging time.

The Maine Department of Education  is excited to announce that the request submitted to the U.S. Department of Education to waive assessments, accountability and school identifications (SY 20-21) has been granted with formal written approval to be received in the coming weeks.

As a result of this waiver, the Department will not implement:

• Assessment requirements in section 1111(b)(2): the requirements to administer all required assessments in school year 2019-2020.

Maine will not administer the following assessments during the spring 2020 assessment window:

• eMPowerME (Math & English Language Arts/Literacy – grades 3 -8)
• SAT (Math & English Language Arts/Literacy – 3^rd year of high school)
• Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA -Math & English Language Arts/Literacy – grades 3 -8)
• Science (grades 5, 8 and 3^rd year of high school)
• Science Alternate Assessment (SAA – grades 5, 8 and 3^rd year of high school)

Accountability and school identification requirements in sections 1111(c)(4) and 1111(d)(2)(C)-(D): the requirements that a State annually meaningfully differentiate all public schools and the requirements to identify schools for comprehensive and targeted support and improvement and additional targeted support and improvement based on data from the 2019-2020 school year.

Maine will not identify additional schools eligible to receive supports in the 2020-2021 school year.

Report card provisions (ESSA Data Dashboard) related to certain assessments and accountability in section 1111(h) based on data from the 2019-2020 school year.

Maine will not publicly report the following items within the ESSA Dashboard: 

• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(i) (accountability system description).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii) (assessment results).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(iii)(I) (other academic indicator results – in Maine this is academic growth).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(iv) (English language proficiency assessment results).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(v) (school quality or student success indicator results – in Maine this is chronic absenteeism).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(vi) (progress toward meeting long-terms goals and measurements of interim progress).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(vii) (percentage of students assessed and not assessed – participation rate).
• Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(xi) (number and percentage of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities taking an alternate assessment).
• Section 1111(h)(2)(C) with respect to all waived requirements in section 1111(h)(1)(C) as well as 1111(h)(2)(C)(i)-(ii) (information showing how students in a local educational agency (LEA) and each school, respectively, achieved on the academic assessments compared to students in the State and LEA).

Public comment is still required regarding Maine’s application to waive the above requirements. Information related to public comment can be located in the DOE Newsroom. Public comment is open through April 10, 2020.  Comments can be submitted to ESSA.DOE@maine.gov.

Further questions can be directed to Janette Kirk, Chief of Learning Systems at Janette.Kirk@maine.gov

As we are all aware, these are unprecedented times with unique challenges, however the Maine Department of Education is asking schools to submit and have their superintendents certify their April Enrollment Count Report. While many Maine state reporting requirements have been suspended, there is need for these data for purposes of calculating public school tuition rates.

Please note that for the April 1 count, “enrollment and attending” are referring to the school that is responsible for educating the student for April 1, 2020.  We are not asking schools to take attendance on April 1, just to certify the students for which they are responsible on this date.

The April Enrollment Count Report will be available for districts to submit and certify, beginning on April 1^st with a certify by date of May 30^th.

The April Enrollment Count Reports will be used for calculating tuition rates in accordance with Title 20-A, §5805, subsection 1.B. This count will not be used for the Essential Services and Programs (EPS) School funding formula, but is still necessary for calculating the tuition rates. Please note that students who are enrolled at outside placements at regional programs or special purpose private schools, are not included enrollment counts in the primary enrollment district.

Instruction on how to complete this report are available here:

https://www.maine.gov/doe/data-reporting/collection/helpdesk/resources/data-reporting-instructions

If you have any questions, feel free to contact:

MEDMS Helpdesk – 207-624-6896

As part of protocol, we are posting an opportunity for public comment regarding the Maine Department of Education (DOE) seeking a one-year waiver pursuant to §8401(b) from requirements within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015) from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE). The U.S. Department of Education requires state educational agencies, when seeking waivers from statutory or regulatory requirements, solicit and respond to public comment on the request and provide evidence of the available comment period. This 15-day public comment period from March 25 – April 10, 2020, waives requirements related to chronic absenteeism, accountability identifications and accountability components within Maine’s Model of School Support.

Maine’s Model of School Support contained within Maine’s ESSA state plan, focuses on supporting and assisting schools and educators experiencing challenges. The Maine DOE is working diligently to continue supporting Maine’s schools during this pandemic of COVID-19. Maine’s Model of School Support is immediately impacted by the Department’s waiver request.

Requirements from which Maine is seeking a waiver include:

• Assessment requirements in section 1111(b)(2): the requirements to administer all required assessments in school year 2019-2020.
• Accountability and school identification requirements in sections 1111(c)(4) and 1111(d)(2)(C)-(D): the requirements that a State annually meaningfully differentiate all public schools and the requirements to identify schools for comprehensive and targeted support and improvement and additional targeted support and improvement based on data from the 2019-2020 school year.
• Report card provisions (ESSA Dashboard) related to certain assessments and accountability in section 1111(h) based on data from the 2019-2020 school year, namely:
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(i) (accountability system description).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii) (assessment results).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(iii)(I) (other academic indicator results).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(iv) (English language proficiency assessment results).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(v) (school quality or student success indicator results).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(vi) (progress toward meeting long-terms goals and measurements of interim progress).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(vii) (percentage of students assessed and not assessed).
  • Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(xi) (number and percentage of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities taking an alternate assessment).
  • Section 1111(h)(2)(C) with respect to all waived requirements in section 1111(h)(1)(C) as well as 1111(h)(2)(C)(i)-(ii)(information showing how students in a local educational agency (LEA) and each school, respectively, achieved on the academic assessments compared to students in the State and LEA).

Federal program affected by the requested waiver

Maine’s Model of School Supports identifications will be impacted due to the following reasons:

• Exclusion of the chronic absenteeism indicator

Governor Janet Mills declared a state of Civil Emergency on Sunday March 15, 2020. As a result, schools were recommended to cease traditional classroom-based instruction as soon as practical and for the duration of our state of Civil Emergency, currently 30 days to be re-established as many times as the situation warrants. Maine schools are not providing traditional classroom-based instruction within brick and mortar buildings. As of March 25, Maine schools remain “closed” through April 27^th.

• Excluding the 95% participation rate within the academic achievement indicator

The grade 3-8 and 3^rd year of high school math and ELA/Literacy assessments, are currently closed and therefore students are unable to participate.

• Exclusion of additional school identifications and subsequent supports to schools

As a result of excluding the chronic absenteeism indicator and not utilizing the 95% participation rate for academic achievement, Maine’s Model of School Support will not have a complete data set and will be unable to identify additional schools eligible to receive supports.

Comments may be submitted to: ESSA.DOE@maine.gov