State of Maine Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for Reading and Mathematics Grades 3-8 and Grade Span Expectations (GSEs) for Science and Technology for Elementary (3-4) and Middle (5-8) Levels.
A Brief History
In December of 2001, President Bush signed into law the educational reform act, No Child Left Behind (NCLB). One of the key features of NCLB requires every state to test annually all students in grades 3-8 in reading and mathematics against individual state standards-in our state, The Maine Learning Results. States, such as Maine, that had only grade span standards were required to develop specific grade level expectations (GLEs) and clearly define what was to be assessed each year.
Maine's goal in the development of GLEs was threefold: to measure important facets of student learning in mathematics and reading, to reflect the breadth and depth of the Maine Learning Results for these disciplines, and to develop a manageable set of GLEs to test for NCLBA purposes. As a result, the GLEs in a grade for each content area are a subset of the Learning Results performance indicators for the grade span. Every attempt was made to create a set of expectations that clearly represent the content area and, at the same time, leave room for local choice in curriculum details and sequences. The following criteria helped guide the development of the GLEs.
- In grades 3,5,6, and 7, each GLE must be a component of or a prerequisite to a performance indicator of the Learning Results.
- In grades 4 and 8, only whole performance indicators listed in the Learning Results may be considered as a potential GLE.
- Each GLE must be central to the understanding of the content area (e.g., big idea)
- Each GLE must have the potential to be measured by a large-scale, paper and pencil test.
- The set of GLEs at each grade level should reflect the breadth and depth of each content area.
- The language used to describe each GLE should be clear and specific enough for consistent interpretation at the local level.
The GLE Development Panels consulted a variety of documents including Maine’s Learning Results, national standards in reading and mathematics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) frameworks, the work of the New England Compact (a collaborative NCLB assessment project among Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island), and web- based surveys posted on the Department’s website.
Between November 11 and December 4, 2003, the Department’s content specialists in reading and mathematics reviewed the public comment on the GLEs and prepared a summary document for review by the Department’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). On December 11 and 12, TAC and PAC made recommendations based on this summary information. The Department’s content specialists in reading and mathematics met with the Commissioner on December 30, 2003 and presented these recommendations regarding GLEs. The following documents reflect in final version the results of this meeting.
Moving to Enhanced Grade Level Expectations for Mathematics and Reading
The original plan for the MEA and off-year testing was to focus on a subset of the standards (the GLEs) in grades 3, 5, 6, and 7, then test the entire set of Learning Results standards in grades 4 and 8. A 2004-2005 review of the MEA testing program under the guidance of the Technical Advisory Committee and Policy Advisory Committee identified five major purposes of the MEA:
- To provide schools and districts with data that will help them improve student achievement.
- To provide a more seamless integration of State and federal accountability structures.
- To provide a continuous profile of student and school performance across adjacent grades (in the context of NCLB, grades 3-8).
- To help teachers and curriculum coordinators identify performance indicators that will help focus, but not narrow, curriculum and instruction.
- To continue to play an effective role in the Comprehensive Assessment System, along with local assessments.
It became clear that an expanded set of Grade Level Expectations would be needed to meet these purposes.
The GLEs were reviewed and expanded in number (by roughly 15-20%) to provide a more effective basis for monitoring achievement over the six-year grade span. The review of the existing GLEs was initially conducted by Department content specialists, then reviewed with the panels of practitioners that participated in the development of the initial GLEs two years ago. Further comment from the field was collected through August 24, 2006 helping the Maine Department of Education ensure that the GLEs were reviewed in a manner consistent with the original process and represent the depth and breadth of the Maine Learning Results.
Beginning with the 2006-07 MEA, to be administered in the spring of 2007, the test in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 will include items on a consistent subset of Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) to provide more seamless and useful data on school and student improvement over time. This includes the “enhanced set” of GLEs (which are posted at the embedded link below for comment) and a focused, smaller set of performance indicators to be included for MEA testing in grade 4 and 8. Taken together, then, the enhanced GLEs and the related performance indicators in grades 4 and 8 will form the basis for the annual reading and mathematics tests. We will refer to the entire testing program as the Maine Education Assessment (MEA). In the 2005-06 test, items based on the revised GLEs were field tested on the MEA in grades 3, 5, 6, and 7 but were not be used for student scores or for school level purposes, such as AYP.
Science and Technology Grade Span Expectations
In June and July of 2005, educator panels made up of teachers and curriculum specialists were convened by the Maine Department of Education to review the Science and Technology performance indicators of the Maine Learning Results and identify those indicators that are central to student understanding of and academic growth in science and technology and are also measurable on large scale assessments such as the Maine Educational Assessment. The sets of indicators that resulted are the Grade Span Expectations (GSEs) for Science and Technology. There are not grade-by-grade expectations for Science and Technology. There are two spans: Elementary, ending with grade 4 and Middle, ending with Grade 8.
While schools are responsible for providing all students the opportunity to achieve all of Maine’s Learning Results in Science and Technology, only the performance indicators contained in the Grade Span Expectations will be considered for state-wide, large-scale assessment in grades 4 and 8 beginning in academic year 2006-2007.
Department contacts for GLEs and GSEs.
MATH
Tad Johnston (tad.johnston@maine.gov)and
Dan Hupp (dan.hupp@maine.gov).
READING
Diana Doiron (diana.doiron@maine.gov) and
Patsy Dunton (patsy.dunton@maine.gov).
SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY
Anita Bernhardt (anita.bernhardt@maine.gov).
Enhanced 2007 Grade Level Expectations (GLEs)
