Governor’s report cards fail to impress schools
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage and Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen unveiled a new evaluation process last Wednesday that uses existing data and a familiar A-F scale to grade each school in Maine. While the report cards show the majority of schools are “average,” local administrators say the grading process is a failure.
“It is my personal opinion that our governor has chosen this avenue to cause friction at the local level thus furthering his charter school initiative,” said SAD 1 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson. “Eighty-two out of 425 elementary schools in Maine received designations of D or F and 38 high schools out of 126 were rated D or F. There will be a lot of stress across the state in the next few days.”
In SAD 1, Zippel Elementary School received a C, Mapleton Elementary School got an A, Presque Isle Middle School earned a C, and Presque Isle High School received a B.
“While we could obviously do better,” said Johnson, “our grades were competitive based on the criteria that they used. However, it’s glaringly apparent that the wealthy communities in the state are getting the As and the Bs and the poor areas of this state are getting Ds and Fs.
“I think the school funding formula is broken. It’s supposed to assure the opportunity for every child in the state — wherever they live — to have an equal opportunity for an education, but that’s not what’s happening,” he said. “The state is not funding schools at 55 percent as they are supposed to, and I think that is the cause of the funding system failure.”
Other grades assessed to Aroostook County schools include:
• Ashland District School — elementary and middle school received an F, while the high school got a C.
• Fort Street Elementary School (Mars Hill) — C.
• Central Aroostook Junior-Senior High School — both the middle and high school received a C.
• Easton Elementary School — C.
• Easton Junior-Senior High School — middle school earned a C and the high school received a B.
• Fort Fairfield Elementary School — C.
• Fort Fairfield Middle-High School — middle school received an F, while the high school got a D.
• Washburn District Elementary School — D.
• Washburn District High School — C.
At a press conference last Wednesday, the governor and commissioner said the A-F grading system reflects a commitment to transparency, parent engagement and putting the state’s students first.
“Maine’s economic future depends on how well our schools prepare our students for success in college, careers and civic life,” said LePage. “These report cards show the majority of Maine’s schools are average, but I believe Maine’s students deserve an above-average education. With this accessible accountability system, students, parents and educators can work together to raise their grades and create better outcomes for Maine kids.”
Based on data already collected by the department, the majority of both Maine’s elementary and high schools are average or above; 81 percent of the 422 elementary schools graded and 69 percent of the 124 high schools earned an A, B or C.
Meanwhile, 11 percent of elementary schools and 23 percent of high schools received a D and 8 percent of both elementary and high schools received an F.
The overall state grade was a C at both the elementary and high school levels.
Bowen stressed the Department of Education is a resource to all schools no matter their grade and will be increasing its support to struggling schools while doing more to promote promising practices already in place. Additionally, the LePage Administration’s budget proposal includes $3 million to be allocated for improvement initiatives.
In an effort to ensure the report cards are clear and concise yet comprehensive enough to be constructive, the grades are based on proficiency and progress.
At the elementary school level, math and reading proficiency as measured by standardized assessments and progress are weighted equally in determining a school’s grade. Progress includes both the growth of all students and the gains made specifically by the bottom 25 percent of students.
At the high school level, math and reading proficiency and progress each account for 40 percent of a school’s grade, and four-year and five-year graduation rates account for the remaining 20 percent.
“The release of the report cards is an opportunity for a constructive conversation on school performance in which we are all speaking the same language,” said Bowen. “Just as parents lean in when their child receives an F and encourage the good work to continue when they earn an A, we hope they do the same when it comes to responding to the grade their school receives.
“We understand a letter grade does not tell the whole story of a student, nor does it tell the whole story of a school,” he said. “Rather, this is a good-faith effort to condense the reams of data the department already collects into an accessible snapshot of where our schools are today, showing areas where we are doing well and those where we need to improve. Now that we have this benchmark, the Department looks forward to helping educators expand existing examples of excellence to make Maine’s schools better for all students.”
Marc Gendron, SAD 20 superintendent, said it’s important to note that scores are predominantly based on one year of results.
“These grades do not reflect where we want to be. Our job is to look hard at where we are and to continue improving at every grade level,” he said. “We will continue to improve where we are strong and we will make the necessary adjustments to correct our weaknesses.
“These initial grades will provide a baseline from which we will measure our future successes in helping our students become better students and people,” said Gendron, noting that the elementary school was one of only a few schools in the state that made adequate yearly progress according to the No Child Left Behind regulations.
The superintendent said he finds it ironic that the high school has received accolades in recent years touting its success, but got a less than stellar grade from the state.
“We have a banner in the gym from the U.S. News & World Report that we got in 2012 that says we were a top performing high school. At that time, we were in the top 10 in the state,” said Gendron. “We got a similar banner in 2010. However, when the state issued us a grade, we got a D. I find that surprising; I don’t think things have changed that much.”
The next round of report cards for Maine high schools will be released this fall using data from the May Maine High School Assessment for third-year students. Elementary school report cards will be sent out in the spring of 2014.
For more information about the Maine School Performance Grading System, log onto www.maine.gov/doe/schoolreportcards.
