PHILLIPS — Having a committed, veteran staff that continuously reviews student data contributed to SAD 58 receiving three A’s from the state for elementary schools, Superintendent Brenda Stevens said Thursday.
“We have students and staff who are committed to showing up and doing the work,” she said. “We were not surprised by our grades as we are very aware of our data. If you look across time, our elementary schools have consistently made adequate yearly progress.”
She said she believes that other school districts across the state have the same practice.
Stevens stressed that the state report card is a single measure — one test — when in fact there are multiple measures that should be considered. On any given day the test outcome could have been different, she said.
“The governor’s report card is a narrowly focused singular assessment of learning,” Stevens said. “We as educators know that best practice involves multiple measures used as an integral part of the entire learning process.”
There are 776 students in the district that includes the towns of Avon, Eustis, Kingfield, Phillips and Strong. Eustis residents are seeking to withdraw from SAD 58. The district also has several students from surrounding Unorganized Territories, which pay tuition for them to attend district schools.
Another contributing factor of the higher grades is having a supportive community, Stevens said.
“For us, we have a community that I think supports us. They expect their children to go to school and learn,” she said.
Voters in SADs 58 and 9 in Farmington rejected a proposal to merge in 2008.
Stevens said the the measure of assessment at the high school level is based on one day when students in their third year of school, not necessarily juniors, take the Maine High School Assessment test on a Saturday. That result is what determines what a high school’s grade will be, Stevens said.
Students in grades three through eight are graded on the results of the New England Common Assessment Program tests taken yearly.
“It’s nice to be recognized with having three A schools, when in fact we have five,” she said.
The Phillips, Stratton and Strong elementary schools all received A’s on the report card. The Kingfield Elementary School received a C and Mt. Abram High School got a D. She said the high school grade should have been a C and the state should be correcting it soon. She was told by representatives of the Maine Department of Education that there was a flaw in the grading system that did not allow all students at the high school level to be counted, she said.
Among the accolades the district has received is Strong Elementary School’s national recognition as a Blue Ribbon School, one of three in the state, in 2005.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, founded by the U.S. Department of Education, recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where significant improvements are being made in students’ academic achievement, according to its website.
The school was also recognized as a national Title I Distinguished School in 2011.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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