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Home > Rules & Legislation > Letters from the Commissioner > Informational Letter 072 2008 Maine High School Assessment Administration InformationINFORMATIONAL LETTER NO: 72
TO: Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Guidance Counselors, Curriculum Coordinators, High School Principals and Special Education Directors
The Maine High School Assessment (MHSA) has 2 inter-connected parts: the SAT and the Math-A and Science &Technology Assessments. Part I: SAT
SAT student registration forms will be arriving (or have just recently arrived) at all Maine public high schools. The materials are clearly marked with a green label indicating the SAT registration contents. A step-by-step process for registering students for the SAT has been posted on the Department’s website at: http://www.maine.gov/education/mhsa/registrationmaterial.html . While having students complete all sections of the registration form is highly recommended, the questions that are absolutely essential to complete are detailed in the link above. Please remember that the registration process begins with verification of your school’s MEDMS roster. If the MEDMS roster is not completely accurate (legal names and birthdates), a simple process for correcting any mistakes is also described on the web page listed above. The MEDMS roster verification should take place prior to beginning the SAT registration process. Once the registration process is finished, the student names and birthdays on your school’s MEDMS roster should be identical to those on the SAT registration forms. Additionally, the web page contains a comprehensive set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the 2008 registration process as well as a poster of key dates and contact information.
The Official SAT Online Course continues to be available as a year-round readiness/preparation resource for all Maine public high school students in grades 9-12 as well as all faculty and administrators at all public high schools. Approximately 300 educators participated in the professional development associated with the SAT Official Online Course at regional rounds during the first two weeks of January. If your school is not utilizing or maximizing this resource, more information can be found at: http://www.maine.gov/education/mhsa/studentrp.html . Additionally, PrepMe.com of Chicago, a company not associated with the College Board, will also continue to make available their preparation program free to all Maine Juniors for approximately 3 months prior to the May 3rd administration of the SAT. PrepMe has significantly simplified the process by which students are assigned passcodes to participate in the preparation program. PrepMe will be contacting Maine high schools within the coming week with specific details of their preparation program. Schools wishing to enroll students immediately in the PrepMe program can contact Rick Bolton at: rbolton@prepme.com or call him at (203) 375-3432.
Although the administrative operations of the 2008 Maine High School Assessment (MHSA) are very similar to those used last year, representatives from the Maine Department of Education and The College Board will present 2-hour workshops to address and review all aspects of administering the Maine High School Assessment (MHSA) testing program. The workshops will take place on March 4th in Portland from 9-11 am at Verrillo’s Convention Center and, on the same day, in Augusta from 1:30-3:30 pm in room 103 of the Cross State Office Building. The Augusta session will be broadcast via ATM and videotaped for anyone wanting to access the information but unable to attend a presentation. On Wednesday, March 5th, from 9-11 am, the presentation will be repeated at The Black Bear Inn in Orono. Additionally, the PowerPoint presentation used in the workshop will be posted on the Department’s website at: http://www.maine.gov/education/mhsa/testmaterial.html in early March. The workshops are free of charge and those wishing to attend should contact Sandy McKechnie at: sandra.mckechnie@maine.gov stating your name, school and site preference. Additional announcements of these workshops will be provided.
Saturday, May 3, 2008 is the date for the administration of the SAT.
Students who are absent on May 3rd, but want official SAT college-reportable scores will be transferred to the June 7th make-up date at the closest SAT test center that is open on that date. Students who do not want a college-reportable score and/or who need more accommodations than those provided through the College Board SSD program can take the SAT for Maine Purposes Only (MPO) at their own school during a window from May 3rd -14th. There are no MPO make-up options available after May 14th. The MPO option is also described in detail at the link provided in the third section below, regarding registration.
Part 2: Math-A and Science and Technology Assessment
March 31-April 11, 2008 is the date for the administration of the Math Augmentation (Math-A) and Science & Technology tests.
Actual combined test time necessary for the Math-A and Science & Technology tests is 2 hours and 45 minutes (for those students not receiving extended time accommodations). Complete Math-A and Science & Technology testing materials will be automatically shipped (via UPS) to each high school by Measured Progress the week prior to the administration window and collected on Monday, April 14th, the week following the test administration. Special registration information for these tests is not necessary, as all registration information will be collected via the SAT registration process detailed in paragraph three below. Please remember that any students who will be taking the SAT with accommodations must receive those same accommodations for the Math-A and Science & Technology tests, as well.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires all states to test and report results from Science this year. Maine will fully comply with this regulation and the resulting 2008 Maine High School Assessment (MHSA) Science & Technology test will be administered during two separate 1-hour sessions. The complete test design, formula scoring process and released items from earlier tests can be found at: http://www.maine.gov/education/mhsa/mathaugment/ . The Science & Technology test will not be used by our State as an AYP measure. Because the high school Science & Technology testing program was suspended before the State’s most recent achievement level standard setting occurred, new standard setting will be undertaken as soon as student raw scores are available in order to translate student performance to the common Maine High School Assessment (MHSA) scale (1100-1180). As in all other content areas and grade levels, Measured Progress will facilitate the standard setting process that will be based on the judgment of Maine science educators. The achievement level standard setting will be held at the Department of Education on May 21-22 of this year. An invitation to participate in this activity will be issued to Maine science educators in the coming weeks.
As in past years, all MHSA/SAT results (school, school administrative unit, State) will be posted on the Department’s website (at: http://www.maine.gov/education/mhsa/school_reports.htm ). The posting will occur as soon as all student data has been verified as accurate at the state and local levels. This past year, the results were posted several weeks later than anticipated due to the need of reconciling an immense number of non-matching student data. By ensuring that your school’s MEDMS roster is in complete and exact agreement with your SAT roster at the time of registration, you can help the Department to move the posting of finalized results to August.
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