MORE ON SAD 63 SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION NATION SCORECARD - SCHOOL BOARD MEETING TONIGHT

The SAD 63 School Board Meeting tonight is at HOLBROOK Middle School - @ 6:30pm (not the Eddington Elementary School as previous posted). This is according to information received this afternoon from the Eddington Town Manager. According to the agenda, there will be discussion of the AOS which has been approved by the State Commissioner of Education. The voters of the school district will need to vote on the matter, scheduled for the November election. Stay tuned for whenever the School Board plans to hold the required Public Hearing so voters will learn of the pros and cons of the issue.

NOW - MORE ON THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON HOLBROOK AND HOLDEN SCHOOL PERFORMANCE (2008-2009) Currently being shown NATIONALLY on the EDUCATION NATION special project in New York. (See information on Eddington Elementary School, Bangor High School and Brewer High School and Maine's standards v. Federal standards posted yesterday)

All data is for 2008-2009.

HOLDEN SCHOOL had an enrollment of 169.

The 4th grade READING exam had a 67% passing level.
The average 4th grade passing level for SAD 63 was 77% (because the Eddington School passing percentage was higher).
The average 4th grade passing percentage for the state of Maine was 71%.

The 4th grade MATH exam had a 50% passing level.
The average 4th grade passing level for SAD 63 was 52% (because the Eddington School passing percentage was slightly higher).
The average 4th grade passing percentage for the state of Maine was 66%.

HOLBROOK SCHOOL had an enrollment of 282 (grades 508)

The 8th grade READING exam had an 84% passing level.
Because there are no other middle schools in the district,the average was also 84%.
The average 8th grade passing percentage for the state of Maine was 71%.

The 8th grade MATH exam had a 60% passing level.
Because there are no other middle schools in the district, the average was also 60%.
The average 8th grade passing percentage for the state of Maine was 53%.

Again, these statistics are based on Maine's standards. (Please refer to the information regarding Maine's standards compared to the Federal standards as posted in yesterday's blog posting.)

Maine's 8th grade students rank 35th in the nation in their Math scores using the national exams and graduation rates as calculated by the U.S. Department of Education.

Any reader who wants to check out any public school in the country can do so at: www.Educationnation.com . Go to the Tab marked "Learn More" and then click on the Scorecard category. There is a place where you can type in the name of the school you want to look at. If there are more than one school with the c=same name, you can pick the one you want by identifying the town and state you are looking for. The Holden School is listed that way, as is the Holbrook School. The Holden School is not listed as Holden Elementary School, as an example.

But, looking as these results, one has to wonder what the teachers and school board members were referring to last spring when they were defending the "high quality of education" being provided to our students. Not with these scores - particularly with the lower standards the state of Maine uses as compared to the Federal standard which our students have to compete with when applying for college and being able to hold their own when they get there.