The MEA test was to determine the percentage of students who "Meet or Exceeds Standards..."
The NAEP test was to determine the percentage of student "At or Above Proficient..."
Look at How Maine compared to National Standards:
MEA: in Math NAEP: in Math
2005 - 28% 30% (Maine did better on the NAEP, but not great overall at only 30%)
2007 - 51% 35% (Maine students lost 16% points using the national exam)
2009 - 53% 35% (Maine students lost 18% points using the national exam)
MEA: in Reading NAEP: in Reading
2003 - 45% 2003 - 37% (Maine lost 8% points using the national exam/poor NAEP)
2005 - 56% 2005 - 38% (Maine lost 18% points using the national exam/poor NAEP)
2007 - 65% 2007 - 37% (Maine lost 27% points using the national exam/poor NAEP)
(Source: Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto NAEP Scales: 2005-2007)
If you read these comparative scores, it means that the MEA tests "dummy down" the standards for students in Maine as compared to the NAEP tests. Even using the lowered MEA tests, almost half of Maine 8th grade students in public schools were not "meetings or exceeding Maine state standards" in Math as recently as 2009.
Using the national standards, only slightly more than one-third of Maine's 8th graders were considered "at or proficient" standards in reading in any one of the three testing years. It should make Maine parents of 8th graders wonder if they can trust how well their student/children are learning in Maine's public schools when there is such disparity between the scoring of MEA and NAEP learning tests.
Even the 2009 U.S. D.O.E. reported that Maine appears to be lowering its proficiency standards to make it seem as though our schools are doing better than they are.
According to Education Week, October 29, 2009, a federal study finds "State standards for what constitutes 'proficient' performance on 8th grade mathematics exams dropped in 16 states between 2005 and 2007. The proficiency bar was raised over the same period in four other states." Maine was one of the 16 states where proficient performance dropped. The four states where the bar was raised were Montana, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
In the 2009 report entitled, "Diplomas Count, Broader Horizons," Maine was noted as having a high school graduation rate of 76.3%; it ranks 13th overall in the country. The state ranks 25th in the nation for the rate of white students graduating, and 30th for rate gains since 1996. However,
- Maine has not defined college or work readiness in its diploma requirements.
- Maine's 16-credit requirement for a high school diploma is less than 39 other states.
Maine has NO HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM (whereas 24 other states do). What does this mean?
It means that all a student has to do to receive a high school diploma is show up enough hours - and get passed from one grade to another and that's enough. He/she doesn't have to show any proficiency for any of the basic educational skill sets - the ability to read or write or speak English or to do any basic math. And what about basic science? And yet we expect these students to be able to go on to school or to get (and keep) a job that will pay enough to support them and their families and the babies they WILL produce so that they can and will stay off welfare (not withstanding the current recession). But will they have the basic education to go on to college or a vocational training program and succeed?
With no exit exam, we also have no true way of knowing if their teachers have really taught them (on a comparative national level) what they need to know to go out into the world. We have no way of really knowing if their teachers have earned the salaries and benefits and retirement packages we, the taxpayers, have been paying (and will continue to be paying them) for years to come. Without exit exams, there is no accountability for either the students or the teachers.
As an example, California only started using exit exams around 2006. It was amazing how many students could not pass the English, math or science exams - and yet they had been passed from class to class all the way through high school. They were afforded tutor classes on weekends in preparation to take the exams a second time before graduation, and some passed. Some didn't. There was a huge "to-do" about whether they'd get to march in their graduation exercises. Parents were up in arms. Why couldn't their kids pass these exams? Some had to go to summer school in order to take the exit exams a third time. Bottom Line: Kids start studying better and teachers are held accountable for teaching and better tests when they know there will be no diploma without first passing the exit exams (and parents hold up their end at home re: homework, too). The end results are more accountable teachers, better educated students and a smarter work-force. Exit Exams are a true test of how well our schools are working - or not.
The New Teacher Project (TNTP) produced a paper entitled "Interpreting Race to the Top", TNTP Summary & Analysis of USDE Draft Guidelines - September 2009 (updated and revised 9/7/09) in which it stated that Maine was identified as being one of 14 states that "does not meet one or more criteria" for federal Race to the Top funding. (NOTE: Race to the Top is a federal funding project which would allow states to receive significant federal dollars for education providing the state meets the required federal education guidelines. This program has been frequently discussed on national television programs such as Meet the Press.)
Criteria that Maine lacks to qualify for Race to the Top funding include:
- Maine "does not have charter school legislation."
- Maine "has not implemented essential elements of state data systems."
- Maine does not have elements in place to "ensure the effectiveness of teachers and administrators."
The 2009 report, "Portrait of a Population - How English Language Learners Are Putting Schools to the Test", produced by Quality Counts, reports:
Maine scores a C+ overall, but a D for "The Teaching Profession" because it ...
- Does not tie teacher evaluations to student outcomes.
- Does not reward teachers for improving student outcomes using performance-based pay.
- Does not incentivize teachers to take on teaching assignments in high-need schools or fields.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO BRING MAINE PUBLIC EDUCATION UP TO ACCEPTABLE STANDARDS?
- We need to decide what a high school diploma should signify.
- We need an assessment system to ensure a mastery of state standards (and have state standards equal to no less than national standards).
- We need a system in place to assess the effectiveness of education spending. (If we are spending more per pupil and the test scores are lower than the national average, something is clearly wrong.)
- We need data systems that track teacher and school quality and we need to make that data public.
- We need performance-based pay to be a component of any teacher contract.
- We need charter schools to be a part of school choice.
PREDICTIONS RE: THE COMING MAINE LEGISLATIVE SESSION (BEGINNING JANUARY 2010)
The Education Committee's time this session will be dominated by budget cuts and "fixes" to the district consolidation law. (Locally we are already hearing the state will cut $146,600 from the current 2009-2010 state allocation to SAD 63 - and more than $350,000 in 2010-2011, in addition to any "penalty" if the district fails to form an RSU. We can expect an even greater financial cut in state subsidy with the way the state deficit is mounting.-That only means higher property taxes if we don't force the district to CUT line items in the existing and projected school budget...something this writer and others urged last May at the Public Hearing for the current school budget. We were ignored.)
An effort will be made to ELIMINATE the school budget referendum process to "save money." (This means that local communities will be stripped of their voting right to review and approve proposed school budgets for any RSU for which they will be paying via their property taxes. The only place money will be "saved" is in Augusta since, I believe, the state pays for the voting at local levels.) If you don't like this idea, this writer suggests you start writing and emailing your Legislative representatives (Senator Richard Rosen and Representative Ben Pratt)
An effort will be made to adopt a statewide teacher contract to "save money." (Who's money? Any statewide contract will be higher than the rural and small communities like Eddington, Clifton, Orrington, etc. currently pay. You can be sure the teacher unions are behind this.) Another reason to start writing/emailing to your legislative representatives.
Charter schools will remain off the table despite the loss of federal funding that will result. (Because charter schools require higher performance from both their teachers and more discipline from their students - and there is pay-for-performance in their contracts so poor performing teachers are not "protected". Consequently the teacher unions do not support charter schools.)
Little else in the way of real reform will happen from Augusta. What else is new?
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