Families travel to Pine State Learning from across Maine and New England for independent academic evaluations. A school evaluation quantifies the gap; an independent evaluation identifies its cause and specifies a course of action. Our reports are used for advocacy, to inform tutoring in another setting, or for creating homeschool curricula.
A school evaluation is designed to determine eligibility: whether a student meets the criteria for special education services under state and federal guidelines. It can conclude that a child does not qualify for services without ever identifying why the child is struggling.
An independent evaluation answers the diagnostic question. We use validated, nationally normed assessments across reading, writing, and math, identify whether the profile is consistent with dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia and which subtype, and translate the findings into an intervention plan: the approach indicated, the recommended frequency and duration, and progress monitoring guidelines.
Full battery, single-subject, and a la carte options are described on the evaluations page, with the current fee schedule.
Evaluation sessions are in person at our office at 14 Middle St. in downtown Brunswick. Brunswick is about three and a half hours from Springfield.
Families traveling from farther away often schedule testing across one or two consecutive days and stay overnight. The office is in downtown Brunswick, within walking distance of restaurants and lodging, with more options in Freeport and Portland, 20 to 40 minutes away.
Looking for ongoing instruction instead? See Online tutoring for Springfield Area families.
A quick conversation helps us hear your concerns and guide you to the next steps. We will get you set up to start tutoring, an independent academic evaluation, or a home learning kit, or send you to the professionals who can help if we cannot.
We are committed to working against the way that racial and socioeconomic privilege manifests itself in the identification and remediation of learning disabilities.
We do what we can by offering need based scholarships, doing pro-bono consultation for families with economic needs, providing services in some of Maine's lowest resource schools, and working with educational advocates on the toughest cases to help ALL students get what they need.