Maine is preparing to return its schools to a multi-state testing collaborative it helped develop six years ago.

The Maine Department of Education last month said it would likely give up most Maine Educational Assessment, or MEA, tests and switch to the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP, a collection of tests used in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The move -- which would save the state $1 million to $2 million annually, according to department figures, revised down from previous estimates of $2 million -- was a response to Gov. John Baldacci's appeal to state agencies to trim budget requests by 10 percent.

Becoming the fourth state to use NECAP tests would save Maine from separate test development costs.

The Department of Education also announced it would call off March's fifth- and eighth-grade writing tests, producing a one-time savings of $120,000 to $140,000.

Testing expensive

Maine spends $6 million annually on student testing, Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said, and the writing tests are the most expensive to administer because the scoring cannot be automated. The department this year had already paid to develop and pilot test questions. The department will save test administration, correction and score-analysis costs.

The NECAP regional testing venture began in 2002 after the federal No Child Left Behind Act passed, requiring states to test students in grades 3 through 8 and one year in high school in mathematics and reading.

"We knew we were faced with this," said Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Education. "We also knew we were a small state and it would be difficult to go alone."

Rhode Island officials reached out to other New England states, seeking collaborators on a new set of mathematics, reading, writing and science examinations, Krieger said. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont were interested and became early partners.

"They pooled their resources and they probably have a better test," said Monty Neill, deputy director of FairTest, a Boston-based organization that promotes fair student testing.

Interstate partnership

Neill, who keeps tabs on standardized tests across the United States, said the New England test is among the only examples of interstate partnerships on basic subject tests. States up until recently have more commonly joined to create specialized tests for students learning English and those with learning disabilities.

By 2003, Krieger said, the partner states had signed a contract with a Dover, N.H.-based test developer, Measured Progress, and were preparing to administer the tests in the fall of 2005, but Maine had dropped out of the partnership.

"When the New England states were moving in that direction, our law required that I do spring testing," Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said. "I needed to go to the Legislature and get that language changed. As a result of that, the states moved forward, and the other states went with NECAP."

Maine developed the MEA tests with Measured Progress, the same company developing the NECAP tests. Maine used an "identical" process for generating the tests, involving teachers in the test-making, Gendron said.

As a result, she said, the MEA and NECAP tests have a number of similar elements, and the switch from one system to the other should not present substantial challenges.

Maine schools would not have to adjust curriculums or re-evaluate requirements for graduation, according to Gendron; and state law now allows fall testing.

"It doesn't appear there will be any issue because the tests are so comparable," Gendron said.

Students must adjust

Students will have to adjust to taking the standardized examinations in the fall rather than the spring, Krieger said. Gendron said Maine officials must work with the federal government to assure the state's schools are satisfying No Child Left Behind requirements.

"We'll have to work through filing updated reports with the federal government," she said. "We don't anticipate it'll be a problem, but that will be an added step."

If Maine switches to NECAP, Gendron said, the state would continue using the MEA science test and remain with the SAT to test high school students.

"We have more questions about the alignment with the science," Gendron said. "The science assessments that NECAP uses include a hands-on experiment, which elevates the cost. There's no financial gain for us to use the NECAP science."

News of the potential switch to NECAP -- the Department of Education will issue a final decision, likely a positive one, after Nov. 15 -- comes just months after the state released scores on the third round of revamped MEA tests.

It was the first year the state was able to infer a trend about student performance on the tests.

Measured Progress testing experts are exploring whether MEA scores can be matched with NECAP scores to allow the trend line to continue, said Pat Ross, a company spokeswoman.

"There will be significant cost savings by joining NECAP and it allows us to provide comparable information to the schools," Gendron said.

The collaboration among the four New England states, Gendron said, is not likely to stop with NECAP. As the states face tight budgets, she said, they could benefit from additional combined efforts. Gendron said the states recently received a grant to fund such collaboration.

"We all have capacity issues around having limited staff," she said. "So are there things we can continue to do together?"

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com