HOULTON, Maine — Houlton High School has received high grades in two recent “report cards.”
RSU 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer briefly discussed the reports Monday evening during a regular school board meeting.
U.S. News and World Report recently unveiled its rankings for all Maine high schools, with Houlton High School finishing 14th out of 120 schools. Houlton was also ranked 2,165th in the nation out of 21,000 public high schools.
“The report is based on proficiency of our students,” he said. “It is just one snapshot, but to be 14th in the state says a lot for our high school. It’s definitely a kudos to what is going on within our school system.”
The second grading came in the form of Gov. Paul LePage’s report card system which was unveiled by the Maine Department of Education May 1. That report graded all schools throughout the state on an A to F basis, similar to student’s rank cards.
Data for the scoring varied by school level. For high schools, the data collected came from scores on the 2011-12 Maine High School Assessment (SAT) and Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP) for juniors. Graduation rates were also factored into the grade.
Elementary scores were calculated by NECAP test results collected for grades 3-8, which is from assessments done in 2012-13 based on the 2011-12 teaching year. A student’s improvement was also factored into the equation.
Under the state’s ranking system, Houlton High School earned a grade of “B,” while Houlton Junior High School and Houlton Southside School both received a grade of “C.”
Three-quarters of the state’s schools received a grade of “C” or lower in this assessment. Many school districts have blasted the state’s grading system, claiming it was unfair and punished those districts that scored poorly.
In the Governor’s report card, Houlton High School’s data showed that students at HHS were at 47.13 percent for math proficiency, compared to the state average of 47.83 percent. However, three-year math scores, indicating progress of the district, showed a score of 60.78 percent for HHS versus the state average of 50.77 percent.
Reading proficiency was listed at 56.32 percent for the school, compared to the state average of 47.72 percent. The three-year average showed 60.97 percent for HHS students, compared to 48.4 percent for the state.
The four-year graduation rate was listed at 84.51 percent, compared to 83.83 percent for the state.
For grades 3-8, the math proficiency scores were 62.21 percent, compared to 63.05 percent for the state; math growth was 63.54 percent, compared to 66.4 percent of the state; reading proficiency was 76.34 percent, compared to 71.81 percent for the state; and the reading growth was listed at 69.93 percent for the district, compared to 72.98 percent for the state.
“I am happy with these report cards,” Hammer said. “We take it as just one snapshot in time. I want to celebrate the things we are doing in our schools and to move this district forward. I want all of our students to be meeting proficiency as a primary goal.”
The announcements were much welcomed news for the high school that in March 2010 was cited as one of 10 “persistently low-achieving schools” by the Maine Department of Education in a controversial grouping of schools.
Leading up to the announcement of the grades, Houlton High School principal Marty Bouchard said his entire staff was “nervous.”
“It was a scary time,” he said. “We always try to make our school the best it can be to help our students prosper. We were nervous because of the list four years ago.”
Bouchard said both he and his staff thought the school had done much in the way of improvements over those years, but the team leading up the grade’s announcement was a time of trepidation.
“I am very pleased and happy to celebrate this award,” Bouchard said. “We want our students to be either college-ready or career-ready for what they want to do after high school. I give a lot of praise to our teachers and students for taking pride in their work and really giving it their best effort.”
