FORT KENT – SAD 27 students could benefit from a combination of stepped-up individualized attention and increased release time for their teachers, according to a local interpretation of the most recent results of statewide standardized testing.

The standardized tests are administered annually to all Maine public school fourth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students through the Maine Education Assessment program.

Tabulated results are scored and ranked against a school and state average.

“Our students did a bit better than the state averages,” Barbara Caron, SAD 27 teacher and curriculum team leader, said recently. “Still, our average was pretty low. This tells me our kids are not meeting the standards.”

Two years ago, the MEAs were linked to the Maine Learning Results, a set of established criteria and standards all public school students are expected to meet.

SAD 27’s poor showing in a number of MEA categories prompted district officials to charge Caron and fellow teacher and curriculum team leader Betty Pelletier to look behind the scores for answers.

Their findings were reported at the Nov. 18 district board meeting.

“We need to know exactly what it is that is bringing the scores down,” Caron said. “We need to use the results to reform what we do in the classroom.”

And reform, Caron and Pelletier said, is needed.

Seventy-one percent of the district’s eighth-graders could not calculate percentages. Fewer could graph the results, Caron said.

Weaknesses also were identified in informational reading, geography, earth sciences and comparing and contrasting concepts across the curriculum.

“There is a wide gap in achievement between genders,” Pelletier said. In grade eight, 63 percent of the girls meet reading standards, while 7 percent of the boys meet those same standards, she said.

It is almost the same in eighth-grade writing, with 50 percent of the girls meeting the standards and 7 percent of the boys meeting the standards.

The reasons, Caron and Pelletier said, could come down to methods of instruction, cultural phenomena or the relative newness of the Learning Results as part of the MEAs.

“What we are finding,” Sandra Bernstein, SAD 27 superintendent, said, “is kids are able to answer the questions or solve the problems correctly if teachers work with them and they are allowed to do them over.”

Part of the problem, Bernstein said, is all students do not look at or interpret all questions the same way. “When the test questions were readministered and teachers worked with [the students] on looking at the whole questions, they did better,” she said.

“I don’t believe there is anything wrong with our students,” Garfield King, board member from Fort Kent, said. “But it bothers me a little bit that our district is not up to state standards.”

The importance to finding out why, Pelletier said, lies not in the MEA results, but in the use of those results.

“We know we have areas of weakness [and] we know we can do something about it,” she said. “Most of the weaknesses come from implementation of learning. We need to restructure that through professional development.”

Professional development means release time for teachers. Currently, SAD 27 allows five professional development — or workshop days – during the academic year. Some districts in Maine, Pelletier said, allow 15 days.

“If you could allow us more days or maybe get creative and allow a half day every two weeks, that would be a help,” Caron said.

At the same time, student performance must be evaluated on an individual basis to pinpoint specific problem areas.

“Is a student burdened too much with reading a science test?” Pelletier said. “We want to know if they can do the science, not if they can read or not. We already know that from another question.”

The curriculum leaders cautioned against looking for a quick fix.

“We can’t take this information and rush to judgment,” Pelletier said. “We must gather more data. Right now we have more questions than answers.”

The two plan to examine current use of resources and the use of creative scheduling “to provide enrichment for some and remediation for others,” Pelletier said.

At the same time, Bernstein said, incentive for students to do better is on the horizon.

“At this point there are no consequences if they do not do well,” she said. “Students get the same [graduation] diploma if they get all As or all Bs.”

An anticipated district move toward board certification for graduation could change all that. “There needs to be consequences and reasons for doing well, other than ‘it’s good for you,”‘ Bernstein said. “Especially at the adolescent age.”

“It all comes down to a new way of looking at assessment,” Bernstein said. “This kind of work is increasingly time-consuming,” she said.