BANGOR – A summer program that offers high school freshmen another opportunity to demonstrate that they have met the state’s academic standards has been successful, Bangor educators said Monday.

The program, which features English-Language Arts and math, has helped students improve scores, build self-esteem, and develop a rapport with teachers.

Although students initially were downhearted about coming to school in the summer, “after the first day there was a huge change. They were pretty excited, they worked hard and put in a lot of effort. They stopped me in the hallway and shared their scores,” Albert Mooers, Bangor High School assistant principal, told the school committee.

The students, some of whom were low achievers, “will take their success back to school” and be better learners, he said.

Ninth-graders who scored poorly on English-Language Arts and math assessments during the past year were asked to participate in the summer program and were given new lessons and new assessments – called replacement tests – that measured their knowledge of two of the eight subjects that make up Maine’s Learning Results.

While not every student who was asked to take the summer program ultimately signed on, “the ones who were there did an awesome job,” Mooers said.

Teachers speculated during an interview that the smaller classes and more focused instruction played a part in helping students do better on the assessments.

All 43 ninth-graders who were given replacement tests during the two-week math program achieved the Learning Results, said Steve Godsoe, chairman of Bangor High School’s math department.

“They came in thinking, ‘I can’t do math,'” he said. “When they saw they could do it, they worked real hard. And they left feeling really good about themselves.”

While the three-week English-Language Arts program is still going on, so far the 23 students “are doing very well” and have improved their average score on the first two replacement tests, said Deanna Jones, English department chairwoman and summer assessment coordinator.

The results are important because in order to earn a high school diploma all students in this year’s freshman class in Bangor will have to score well enough on a series of tests over the next four years to prove they’ve acquired at least a basic understanding of the subject.

In addition to demonstrating they have met the standards in the Learning Results, Bangor students must pass a certain number of classes to amass enough credits to graduate – the traditional means of determining whether a diploma will be issued.

Parents have been supportive of the summer assessment program, Mooers told the school committee. Several called him, wondering why their children were asked to take the summer program when they had received a passing grade for the class.

“When we explained the importance of meeting the Learning Results … they were happy we had this,” he said.