March 28, 2024
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Bangor schools ready to meet federal rules

BANGOR – The school department “isn’t intimidated” by the new federal No Child Left Behind Act and its emphasis on accountability and teacher quality, the superintendent said Monday.

Because academic achievement always has been “a core value” in Bangor, the school system is “well-aligned” with No Child Left Behind, Superintendent Robert Ervin told the school committee.

Measuring student achievement and making instructional changes to help them succeed is nothing new in Bangor, said Assistant Superintendent Frank Hackett, who offered an overview of the complicated, 1,100-page law.

No Child Left Behind also stipulates that by the end of the 2005-06 school year, all teachers in core academic subjects, including English, reading and math, must be “highly qualified” and have full state certification.

That won’t be a problem for Bangor, either, since “a huge portion” of teachers here have master’s degrees and are well-versed in the areas they teach, Hackett said.

Enacted two years ago, No Child Left Behind requires that children be tested every year in grades three to eight, and once in high school. Schools must set standards and make “adequate yearly progress.” For now, school performance will be based on the Maine Educational Assessment, a standardized test given in grades four, eight and 11.

Over time, schools that fail to make progress will have to allow students to transfer to another school in the district if parents request it, provide tutoring and take other corrective measures.

State officials have criticized the landmark federal legislation, complaining that it sets unrealistic goals and will end up penalizing even high-performing schools because the MEA sets higher standards than tests used elsewhere.

The law presents a number of challenges, Hackett said. A lot comes from not knowing what local systems will be asked to do to meet the requirements, he said.

For example, “adequate yearly progress” hasn’t yet been defined because the state’s original application to the federal government stating how it proposed to comply with the law wasn’t accepted, Hackett said.

Maine had hoped to be able to tie students’ achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress into its performance standard, said Hackett. Maine students typically score well on the national test, he said.

The state currently is drafting new language, he said.

Also up in the air is how the law will affect teacher certification and whether the state or local school districts will develop assessments.

Bangor isn’t worried either way, because “we’ve developed a variety of local assessments,” he said.


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