State plan to trade MEA for SAT on track

LEWISTON – Maine’s high school juniors are on track to begin taking the SAT instead of the Maine Educational Assessment exam this spring.

The Legislature’s education committee on Monday unanimously rejected a bill by Sen. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, to delay the change for a year.

The committee also rejected, 10-2, a proposal by Rep. Thomas Saviello, a Wilton independent, to give the Legislature oversight of the testing process.

The strength of the vote virtually assures that Education Commissioner Susan Gendron’s proposal to replace the MEA with the SAT for juniors will proceed, said Elizabeth Mitchell, Senate chairwoman of the Education Committee.

Making the SAT the standard test for all 11th-graders will allow students to clear a hurdle to attending college, free of charge, she said. The test normally costs $41.50 unless a student is granted a waiver of the fee. That’s the most persuasive argument for the SAT, Mitchell said.

Maine officials want to boost the number of high school students who move on to a two- or four-year degree. Only 37 percent of Mainers 25 or older have a college degree, while the New England average is 45 percent, officials say.

Swapping the MEA with the SAT also would mean one less test for students who already take the MEA for the state and the SAT for their college applications. “Kids are sick to death of testing,” said Mitchell, D-Vassalboro.

Members of the education committee were assured by the College Board, which administers the SAT, and Gendron that the new SAT will measure student progress, “not just aptitude,” Mitchell said.

Gendron, who hopes the test will get students thinking about college, said the committee’s vote was a step in the right direction. Treating all students equally is Maine’s “moral obligation,” she said.