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Assessments

State Assessments

The Elementary and Secondary Schools Act (ESSA) requires that all public school students in grades 3 through 8 and second & third years of high school participate in the Maine Comprehensive Assessment System (MECAS). The MECAS includes the Maine Through Year Assessments (MTYAs) in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) and the Maine Science Assessment.

The Maine Department of Education houses an online data dashboard including a District Report Card that provides school and district assessment data. Although standardized assessment scores are not the sole measure of school performance, they do provide a snapshot of student growth and/or achievement.  See the chart below for the complete list of state assessments and their administration schedule.

Falmouth Public Schools utilizes the state assessment data, along with additional classroom data to inform instructional practices at the district, school, and classroom level. The state data, along with additional classroom data and observations inform our professional learning, programming, and instructional support.

The Maine Educational Assessments for 2026

Local Assessments or Universal Screeners

Universal screeners are administered internally to all students in a given grade at a given time.  Universal screeners inform student progress on individualized Education Plans (IEPs), our Special Education referral process, GT identification, and our Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS).  The data from our internal screeners is not shared externally.

A table identifying the local assessments student take