Maine's Model of School Support

Maine’s Model of School Support is an accountability system that measures the progress of Maine’s public schools to inform schools, the state, and the federal government of how Maine schools are performing. It also helps to determine where additional support is needed throughout the state to help improve student achievement.

School progress is measured through key indicators of school and student success. These are based on data collected from schools annually:

• Chronic Absenteeism (K-12): Students absent for 10% or more of the days enrolled, whether excused or unexcused.
• Academic Achievement Mathematics (grades 3-8; one year of high school): Students’ state assessment performance in math, compared to state expectations.
• Academic Achievement English Language Arts (grades 3-8; one year of high school): Students’ state assessment performance in ELA, compared to state expectations.
• Progress in English Language Proficiency (K-12): English learners’ progress toward meeting their annual growth goals.
• Graduation Rate (grades 9-12): High school students graduating with a high school diploma in four, five, or six years. 
• Academic Progress Mathematics (grades 3-8): Comparison of students’ state assessment performance in math from fall to spring for the Maine Through Year Assessment and from spring to spring for the Multi-State Alternate Assessment.
• Academic Progress English Language Arts (grades 3-8): Comparison of students’ state assessment performance in ELA from fall to spring for the Maine Through Year Assessment and from spring to spring for the Multi-State Alternate Assessment.

High school graduation rates are also measured to identify where targeted support is needed. Data is collected for all students and for eligible student populations, in which there are 10 or more students of a specific demographic group. This includes students who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, students who are multilingual learners, and students who are White, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, Native American, Hispanic, or two or more races.

To determine each school’s performance on the indicators listed above, Maine uses data collected from public schools on an annual basis to provide each school with a performance rating.  

Performance on each of the indicators is reported on a range of four levels:

• Emerging: All eligible student groups have not met state expectations.
• Developing: At least one student group has not met state expectations.
• Meeting: All eligible student groups have met or exceeded state expectations.
• Excelling: All eligible student groups have exceeded state expectations.

Annually, Maine issues a Report Card for each public school, providing a summary of the applicable school accountability metrics, in addition to other available data about the school. This system of collection, reporting, and support works to inform both state and local decision-makers of the greatest needs that exist within Maine's schools and the state.