Learning Results focus of SAD 63 supper

HOLDEN — As the state moves to implement a new set of academic standards, communities throughout Maine are beginning to look at assessment at the local level.

With the help of a federal grant, educators hope the local tests eventually may supplant the statewide Learning Results as the primary indicator of student performance, said Louise Regan, director of curriculum and instruction for SAD 63. The district includes Clifton, Eddington and Holden.

On Wednesday, Regan’s district will hold a spaghetti supper to get ideas from parents and other community members about the future of its curriculum. The meeting promises to be the first of many in the state devoted to discussing local scholastic standards.

The grant comes from Goals 2000, a national program geared toward assessing students. The money was given to a pilot program designed to set local school standards in Presque Isle, Skowhegan and the five districts that form the Rural Partnership, which includes SAD 63. Though the total amount of the grant could not be ascertained Monday, Regan indicated SAD 63’s portion was $63,000.

Beginning at the end of this month, pupils from kindergarten through the eighth grade will receive an essay question conceived by the pilot group. “I can’t tell you what it is, though,” Regan said. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”

Scoring will begin March 20, part of a two-year effort to establish local writing standards. In the coming years, the assessment efforts will branch out into reading and math.

“The process that we’re working on and the product we came up with is cutting-edge stuff,” Regan said. “We’re kind of forerunners of what people all over the state will be doing.”

The present emphasis on assessment places 60 percent of the weight on state tests and 40 percent on local evaluations. Regan said she hopes the current effort will help shift the balance.

The purpose of Wednesday’s supper is to get parents thinking about what their kindergartners should know by the time they graduate high school in the year 2010. Since the process is just beginning, educators admit that they’re short on specifics about what their vision for the future will look like.

“That’s what everyone wants to know,” Regan said. “The answer, we hope, is a higher standard.”

The supper will include presentations from Barbara Tennent, chairperson of the school board’s curriculum committee; Superintendent Raymond Hart; David Sanderson, an outside discussion facilitator; and Regan. The supper will be held Wednesday at the cafeteria of the Holbrook Middle School. It is scheduled to last from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m..