Better Learning and Results

Faced with higher standards under both the state’s Learning Results and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, some Maine schools are struggling to comply. To help schools identify their shortcoming and develop ways to overcome them, the Department of Education is preparing to dispatch teams across the state to work with local school systems. This help should be welcomed ? and funded.

Education Commission Susan Gendron last week announced that up to 30 teams would be formed to travel the state beginning next fall to help school systems conform to the goals set out by the Learning Results. Under a bill expected to soon be approved by lawmakers, school districts may issue diplomas based on students’ achievement of the Learning Results standards beginning in the 2008-2009 school year. They must report the number of such diplomas awarded.

The next year, the department plans to set annual targets for the percentage of students from each school system that receives the Learning Results endorsements. The percentage should increase each year.

State education officials acknowledge that the increasingly high standards will be hard to meet, but are necessary to enable all the state’s students to succeed in school and beyond.

That’s where the Learning Results teams come in. They would look at three key issues: Is the district’s curriculum aligned with the state standards? Is classroom instruction linked to the curriculum and does the local assessment system actually test what is being taught?

Some districts may see these reviews as a state intrusion into local education decisions. This is unfortunate. The state Legislature has endorsed the Learning Results. If Maine is to have these standards they ought to be met, as well, of course, as amended should they be shown unrealistic. That should make local boards and the state not adversaries but partners.

The state review process would stop ? at least temporarily ? after the department identifies a district’s weaknesses. After reviewing school districts’ progress, the department is required to report its findings to the Legislature’s Education Committee. It must also estimate what it needs, in terms of money and personnel, to help those districts that are far from meeting the Learning Results requirements.

Improving instruction and learning is not just a matter of money. The education department already has a system of matching districts that have met the standards with those that need help. This is a good approach that should minimize resistance.

The next step may be better use of K-12 funding to ensure that all the state’s schools are meeting standards. The department is right to identify problems and try to fix them now.