AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - About 28 percent of Maine’s schools received lower grades from the state this year than last, and two-dozen more received failing grades, new state report cards released Thursday show.
The Maine Department of Education released its grades for the state’s 537 schools for the second year in a row, reigniting a debate over the scoring system that Gov. Paul LePage’s administration heralds as transparent and one that holds schools accountable and motivates them to improve.
The latest A-F grades show a mixed bag of improvements and setbacks: 93 schools boosted their scores by at least one letter grade, but 150 schools received lower grades, 24 more schools received failing grades and 10 fewer schools received A’s. Overall, the schools merited a C grade, just as they did in 2013.
“Maine schools can be the best in the country, and if they keep up this good work and the public holds them accountable to that, they will be,” the Republican governor said in a statement.
Fifty schools got A’s; 71 B’s; 267 C’s; 84 D’s; and 65 F’s. Among them, 32 fewer schools received C’s and D’s.
The department says that since the first report cards were released last year, it has provided teachers with professional development and struggling schools with consultants on how to improve.
But critics again blasted the report card system, saying it was based almost entirely on test scores and “failing” schools have not been getting extra help from the state.
Lois Kilby-Chesley, president of the Maine Education Association, said the scoring system is one more way LePage chooses to “demoralize and demean Maine students and teachers.”
“If we, as a state, are truly hoping to put students first, then we should invest in education and support public schools instead of giving them a letter grade that provides even ’A’ schools with no real measure of success,” she said in a statement.
Under the new system, elementary schools are graded on the results of math and reading assessment tests, and improvement in those scores among all students and among the lowest 25 percent. High schools are graded using math and reading assessment tests, improvement in those scores year to year, and graduation rates.
Schools receive an automatic F if fewer than 90 percent of students take the state assessments. They get docked one letter grade if between 90 and 95 percent of their students take them.
Aside from a schools’ letter grade, the state is making available new information this year, including the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch and the level of teacher experience and education.
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AP writer David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.
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Online:
Maine Department of Education Data Warehouse: https://1.usa.gov/1gHOQpO
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