Assessment Letter & Dates 2026-2027

Dear Portland Public Schools Families,

We are excited for a productive 2026-2027 school year filled with new learning for your student! In this letter you’ll find information about the Maine Department of Education State Assessments, which we are required to administer to students throughout the district. We recognize that these assessments only measure your child's performance on the day the test is given. To help guide our decisions about school programming and student services, we use additional data from classroom and district assessments as well as observations. 

The Maine Through Year Assessment is computer-based and adaptive, adjusting the difficulty level of the questions presented to the student based upon student response. Student achievement is measured both according to grade-level Common Core State Standards as well as according to a RIT score, which allows for comparisons of academic growth across students and time. Students are required to take this assessment in the fall and the spring.

MEA Science: The Maine Science Assessment is administered in grades 5, 8, and the third year of high school. The assessment focuses on performance expectation levels based on three-dimensional learning that incorporates science practices and crosscutting concepts with disciplinary core ideas.

WIDA ACCESS/Alternate ACCESS: The annual assessment of English language proficiency (ELP) for all students identified as multilingual learners in grades kindergarten – 12 is required by federal law within the Every Student Succeeds Act. Maine utilizes the WIDA ACCESS Online (grades 1-12) and the WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten as the annual ELP assessment. For a very small percentage of multilingual learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities, who have been found eligible for participation in alternate assessment via the IEP Team process, that assessment is the WIDA Alternate ACCESS (grades K-12). These assessments are administered in the winter.

MSAA: The Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) is Maine’s alternate assessment for Math & English ELA/literacy. This assessment is administered in grades 3-8 and the third year of high school and is designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Students who qualify for MSAA will also take Maine's alternate assessment for science. These assessments are administered in the spring.

Test scores results will be made available by the Maine Department of Education. Please contact your child’s teacher and school to learn more. To learn more about these tests, visit:

MTYAMEA ScienceACCESSMSAA

Families are our partners in helping students succeed. We ask for your help in making sure that your children are prepared for testing days and ready to do their best work.  

Sincerely,
Hayley Didriksen
PPS Senior Director of Data and Assessment