ESSA Data Dashboard
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, requires schools to make information about student achievement, school accountability and teacher quality available to the public each year. This information is provided through the Data Dashboard developed by the Maine Department of Education and updated on an annual basis. You will find the link to the Data Dashboard below.
As measures of student achievement, Maine students in grades 3-8 and in grade 11 participate in the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA), which assesses English language arts/literacy and math annually. Students in grades 5, 8 and 11 also take the Maine science assessment.
Our educators utilize all assessment data to help inform our practices at the district, school, classroom and individual levels for our students. Although we encourage students and parents to participate fully in our assessment program, it is important to note that parents/guardians may opt their child out of state testing. If you are interested in opting out of state testing, please reach out to your child’s principal for additional information and/or to complete the required form.
To address the federal requirement for measures of school accountability, Maine has identified five indicators of school and student success. Those indicators include graduation rate, chronic absentee rates, proficiency of English language learners, academic progress in grades three through eight, and student achievement in math and English language arts K-12.
Information about teacher qualifications is provided on the Data Dashboard as a tool to help parents understand the credentials of the teachers who are working with their children. Additionally, parents have the right to request information about the professional qualifications of their child's teacher and may do so by contacting the building principal.
Parents are further encouraged to contact building principals with any questions about any of the information that is included on the Data Dashboard. Also, more information about ESSA can be found at www.maine.gov/doe/dashboard