Thank you to the Maine educators who provided responses to the Maine Department of Education (DOE) assessment survey and attended weekly assessment office hours between February and June sharing feedback that was used to inform the construction of the 2021-2022 assessment calendar. The Maine DOE is pleased to share the finalized assessment calendar for school year 2021–2022.
Reminders related to administration of NWEA:
- Language Usage
Beginning with the fall 2021 administration, the NWEA language usage assessment will be administered in addition to the math and reading NWEA MAP growth assessments. Students in grades 3–8 and 3rd year of high school (HS) are required to participate in the fall and spring administration of math, reading and language usage.
- 2nd year of high school students
School Administrative Units (SAUs) have the option to administer the NWEA assessment to students who are in their 2nd year of high school at no cost to the SAU.
- Winter Administration
SAUs have the option to administer the NWEA during the winter assessment window as outlined in the MEA calendar (below). In order to ensure sufficient instructional weeks between assessment administrations, the winter NWEA assessment window is scheduled for January 17–February 10, 2022.
The finalized assessment calendar takes into consideration the following:
- Advanced Placement (AP)
According the responses on the assessment survey, Maine educators indicated that it would be beneficial for students to be able to focus on preparing and participating in these assessments. To accommodate this request, assessment windows for HS math, reading and language usage (NWEA) and science will be conducted during May 16–27,
- Sufficient Instructional Time
Maine educators also indicated a preference for assessments to be conducted, where possible, later during the spring. The science and NWEA administrations are scheduled for May 2021.
Eighty percent (80%) of Maine SAUs indicated they will be utilizing the NWEA assessment during the winter administration window. The spring administration dates are influenced by the winter administration dates to ensure sufficient instructional weeks between fall -> winter and winter -> spring assessment administration.
- Staggered Implementation
The Department did explore a staggered administration of NWEA for grades 3-8 and high school however, this would require the assessment window remain open for both administrations. This would significantly reduce the opportunity for Maine SAUs to use text-to-speech (TTS) outside of the state assessment administration windows (see below).
Other factors influencing the construction of the assessment calendar included:
- School Vacation
Assessment is not staggered over spring vacation during April and therefore eliminates potential scheduling challenges and equity of administration prior to and after spring vacation.
- Availability of Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Educators were clear in their desire to use TTS outside of the state assessment window. TTS remains unavailable during the identified [reading] assessment windows as outlined below. SAUs may choose to administer the NWEA assessment locally outside of the identified 4-week windows and apply/utilize the TTS functionality. The administration of the assessment using TTS is in addition to the state required administration of the assessment
2021-2022 Assessment Calendar:
A copy of the assessment calendar is also located on the assessment calendar page within the Maine DOE website.
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Further questions can be directed to Janette Kirk, Chief of Learning Systems.