Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA)

Resources for Determining Eligibility

These resources are designed to support IEP teams in making data-driven decisions about eligibility and participation in the alternate assessments. 

• Participation Decision Flowchart
• Alternate Assessment Participation Checklist
• Maine Participation Guidance

Alternate Academic Achievement Standards

Alternate academic achievement standards (AAAS) are aligned to and derived from state academic standards. The AAAS are designed as building blocks towards grade level content and are significantly reduced in depth, breadth and complexity for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. An inclusive education happens when all students experience belonging and are presumed capable of learning and worthy of a high quality, challenging and equitable education. The use of AAAS as pathways towards accessing rigorous grade level content is critical to ensure the inclusion of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

• Core Content Connectors in ELA/literacy
• Core Content Connectors in Mathematics

Crosswalk Resources for IEP Teams: Core Content Connectors and Maine Learning Results

• Maine Learning Results & Core Content Connectors Crosswalk - ELA/Literacy (Grades K-5 available now, grades 6-8 in progress)
• Maine Learning Results & Core Content Connectors Crosswalk - Mathematics (Grades K-12 available now)

• Spring 2025 Test Administration Manual - This manual outlines the process for administration of the MSAA and MSAA Science.
• 2025 Test Coordinator User Guide – This guide contains practical information and visual supports to help test administrators navigate the MSAA and MSAA System.
• 2025 Test Administrator User Guide – This guide contains practical information and visual supports to help test coordinators navigate the MSAA and MSAA System.

The MSAA and MSAA Science platform requires a Test Security Agreement upon initial login each year by TAs and TCs, before assessment trainings and student tests can be accessed.  Please read the agreement carefully.  

No additional Test Security Agreement is required for alternate assessments administration beyond that which is provided in the MSAA platform.

The reporting window for the Spring 2024 MSAA data is open from July 15 - September 6, 2024

Test Coordinators at the SAU and school levels have the functionality to download reports directly from the MSAA Platform.

Score Report Interpretation Guide: A detailed guide to various MSAA score reports at the district, school and student levels, including writing rubrics and performance level descriptors. MSAA Score Report Interpretive Guide 2025

MSAA Parent Guides: A resource for parents and families of students eligible for the MSAA, to support knowledge and understanding of what is being measured and how the data can be used to improve student outcomes.

• MSAA Parent Guide Grade 3
• MSAA Parent Guide Grade 4
• MSAA Parent Guide Grade 5
• MSAA Parent Guide Grade 6
• MSAA Parent Guide Grade 7
• MSAA Parent Guide Grade 8
• MSAA High School Parent Guide

Technical Reports

The Multi-State Alternate Assessment (the MSAA) is a comprehensive, two-stage adaptive, summative assessment system designed to promote increasingly higher academic outcomes for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities to prepare them for a broader array of post-secondary outcomes. The MSAA is designed to measure grade-level academic content that is aligned with and derived from the content standards of the MSAA Partner States.

• 2023 MSAA Technical Report (The finalized 2024 MSAA Technical Report is anticipated in March 2025)
• 2023 MSAA Science Standard Setting