The Maine DOE is recognizing 21 schools across the state for their high performance or progress as measured by the State’s federally required accountability system.
As part of Maine’s approved application for flexibility under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA or No Child Left Behind), the State received a waiver to implement its own plan to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps and increase the quality of instruction through the implementation of its own tiered statewide system of support. By reviewing annual progress and student proficiency, schools are placed into one of five categories: priority, focus, monitor, progressing and meeting, allowing the Department to most intensively target support to the schools that need it most.
Just as Maine’s system allows the Department to identify schools that most need improvement support, it also recognizes those showing the greatest levels of improvement and performance.
These 21 so-called reward schools have demonstrated high progress or achieved great performance toward meeting State and federal accountability standards for reading and mathematics. Schools identified as High Progress Reward Schools are among the highest 15 percent of Title I schools with the greatest levels of progress over three years while High Performance Reward Schools have met all annual targets and are also performing within the highest 15 percent of Title I schools.
As the Maine DOE continues to raise expectations for all students, these schools provide an example of the excellence that results where there is a shared commitment to effective, learner-centered instruction; great teachers and leaders; and multiple pathways for learner achievement.
Nearly two-thirds of the reward schools have more than 50 percent of their students qualifying for free or reduced price lunch (FRL), proving that all students are capable of achieving academic success when schools put in place the appropriate supports and strategies to help them overcome challenges.
The reward schools are as follows:
| High Performance Reward Schools | |
| Augusta Public Schools | Farrington School (66.5 percent FRL) |
| Edgecomb Public Schools | Edgecomb Eddy School (45.2 percent FRL) |
| Fayette Public Schools | Fayette Central School (35.4 percent FRL) |
| Otis Public Schools | Beech Hill School (39.4 percent FRL) |
| RSU 02 | Dresden Elementary School (57 percent FRL) |
| RSU 05 | Durham Community School (23.7 percent FRL) |
| RSU 16 | Minot Consolidated School (39.7 percent FRL) |
| RSU 55/MSAD 55 | South Hiram Elementary School (69.7 percent FRL) |
| RSU 44/MSAD 44 | Woodstock School (56.8 percent FRL) |
| RSU 37/MSAD 37 | Daniel W Merritt School (66.2 percent FRL) |
| York Public Schools | Coastal Ridge Elementary (21.7 percent FRL) |
| RSU 64/MSAD 64 | Bradford Elementary School (66.3 percent FRL) |
| High Progress Reward Schools | |
| Beals Public Schools | Beals Elementary School (48.5 percent FRL) |
| RSU 01 – LKRSU | Dike-Newell School (55.6 percent FRL) |
| RSU 20 | Edna Drinkwater School (65.4 percent FRL) |
| RSU 37/MSAD 37 | Harrington Elementary School (65.9 percent FRL) |
| RSU 64/MSAD 64 | Kenduskeag Elementary School (50 percent FRL) |
| RSU 12 | Palermo Consolidated School (45 percent FRL) |
| RSU 64/MSAD 64 | Stetson Elementary School (53.5 percent FRL) |
| RSU 83/MSAD 13 | Upper Kennebec Valley Senior HS (100 percent FRL) |
| Whiting Public Schools | Whiting Village School (56.7 percent FRL) |
For more information about the performance or progress of Maine schools, visit the Department’s public education Data Warehouse.
Hi Timothy, We value your input and have noted your comments regarding Maine’s implementation of the Common Core State Standards.
The impetus for updating and increasing the rigor of Maine’s learning standards was prompted by the progress we were seeing in our schools and information from colleges and the business community. At the high school level, there was a discrepancy between the percentage of students graduating each year and the percentage of students able to demonstrate proficiency on Maine’s state assessments. Additionally, data from our colleges indicated that many students were not ready and needed remedial courses; likewise, members of the business community shared concerns about students missing important skills and not being career ready.
In 2011, the Legislature adopted the Common Core State Standards which are a set of learning standards for English language arts and mathematics. Standards define what students are expected to know and be able to do at each level of education in order to ultimately be prepared for the rigors of college, careers and civic life. Educational standards help teachers by providing clear goals for student learning. Standards do not tell teachers how to teach, but they do help teachers identify the knowledge and skills their students should have so educators can develop appropriate instructional planning.
We invite you to visit the Maine Department of Education’s website where you will find information about all learning standards required in Maine including the Common Core State Standards: http://www.maine.gov/doe/teaching/standards.html. If you have specific questions about the Common Core State Standards, please contact me at 624-6708, rachelle.tome@maine.gov, or Anita Bernhardt, Director for Standards and Instructional Supports, 624-6835, anita.bernhardt@maine.gov. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with us.
I feel a need to respond, as it is my belief that the push for Common Core standards (with its high stakes and punitive aspects) are a detriment to our public school system and do a disservice to our schools, teaching professionals and ultimately our children. This view derives from researching not only the overall effectiveness of such testing, but also the nature of federal control of education and the resultant movement to privatize many aspects of this process.
As a parent, I feel we are being unlawfully held hostage to a system whose main concern seems to be governmental control and profiteering – all at the expense of our public schools and communities. Common Core is part of a larger effort to privatize education and involves the more cynical world of corporate influence, lobbyists and autocrats; all of whom disrupt the democratic process of our communities by supplanting successful public schools with charter or voucher systems.