RANGELEY — To understand the battery of tests that evaluate Maine students for the federal No Child Left Behind Act is to wade into an alphabet soup of acronyms.

The one that matters to teachers and administrators is AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress. It’s the standard set by the states for reading and writing scores in different classes. The federal government expects the percentage of students reaching AYP to increase every year. For 2011 testing, the federal government wanted to see 85 percent making AYP across the states. Under the current language of the act, 100 percent of students are supposed to be at AYP in 2014. That year, Maine should be going over to a new test that is being developed by the nationwide Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

At Rangeley Lakes Regional School, Principal Sherry Connally is well aware of the challenges presented by the shifting requirements.

“You’re trying to hit a moving target,” Connally said.

This month, students in grades three through eight across Maine will sit down to take the New England Common Assessment Program test. This will be the third year that Maine has been a part of the exam, which covers math and reading. Other states in NECAP include New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island. Up until 2008, Maine used its own test: the Maine Educational Assessment.

Now that the state has switched to NECAP, the older test continues to play a role for fifth- and eighth-graders who have the added challenge of taking on MEA’s writing sample and, in the spring, the MEA’s science test.

High school juniors have their performance evaluated by the Maine High School Assessment, MHSA. As part of this, they are required to take the SAT in May, whose score is added to a separate MHSA science section administered in March. While the Rangeley Regional School has made AYP with NECAP’s and MEAs, lower than average scores on the May SAT put the high school on monitor status for Math.

According to Principal Connally, this is more of a measurement of statistical variations than it is an indication of the quality of students’ education.

The state gives schools such as Rangeley more wiggle room with the expected scores, because the small class sizes produce more fluctuations.

Connally said the 16 juniors scored better on previous tests. She considers the 2011 score to be a fluke.

“It depends on the day, it depends on the composition of the class,” she said. Students moving into the school could be at a disadvantage for the tests because they will not have been taught the same material. Another factor that may have affected student performance was the fact that the high school prom was held on the same day that the test was scheduled.

Five Rangeley students identified with disabilities and five with economic disadvantages were also required to take the tests.

According to Connally, there is a more useful model of testing that Rangeley already uses: the NWEA. This computer-based test put out by the Northwest Educational Association is a popular tool that many U.S. schools purchase to evaluate student progress. Connally said she likes it because it gives detailed information about how students performed in different areas, and brings back the results within 24 hours. Because it runs in the fall and spring, this test allows administrators to see how much progress students have made during the school year.

Third- through 10th-graders take this test at the school, as do second-graders in the spring.

By 2014, there should be a new test in town to replace the current group of assessments taken in Maine now. The test is being developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, a group of educators from across several states. Connally expects the new test to use many of the principles that are in the NWEA. Given protests from educators and the president calling for a second look at No Child Left Behind, Connally expects that a new evaluation will measure students based upon their individual progress, rather than a predetermined standard.

“The conversation right now is moving towards a growth model,” said Connally.

As for the 100 percent of students expected to make AYP in the nation by 2014, she is skeptical that that provision will last for long.

“I think that there is enough outcry nationally that Congress is going to have to change the law,” Connally said.

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