HOULTON, Maine — School officials in SAD 29 and SAD 70 received some surprising news Friday when they learned Houlton and Hodgdon high schools were among 10 schools listed as “persistently-lowest achieving” schools by the state Department of Education.
On Tuesday afternoon, Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron released the 10 “persistently lowest-achieving schools,” as defined by federal criteria – schools that will now be eligible for a share of $12 million in federal school improvement grants.
Houlton High School and Hogdon High School were both listed on the report. Houlton falls under the Tier I category as a school that has used Title I, while Hodgdon falls under the Tier II category as a district that is eligible for funds, but are using those funds in other schools. To qualify for Title I funds, a district must have 35 percent of its population be economically disadvantaged. Houlton has about 52 percent of its students in this category.
Other Tier I Schools (Title I schools that have not made adequate yearly progress according to No Child Left Behind Act for two or more years), on the list include: Deer Isle-Stonington High School; Governor James B. Longley Elementary School (Lewiston); Riverton Elementary School (Portland); and Sumner Memorial High School (Sullivan).
Other Tier II Schools (High schools that are eligible for Title I funds but whose districts are using those funds in other schools) on the list include; Carrabec High School (North Anson); Lake Region High School (Naples); Livermore Falls High School; and Madison Area High School.
“We have been working with the state to develop strategies to engage this part of our student population,” SAD 29 Superintendent Steve Fitzpatrick said. “We are very close to meeting or exceeding those standards.”
SAD 70 Superintendent Bob McDaniel echoed those sentiments.
“We looked at our Adequate Yearly Progress before this came out,” McDaniel said. “We realized we were not progressing as rapidly as we felt we should. We took federal money this year and put a math specialist in our high school to help and we have directed our principal to come up with an action plan for the high school.”
The 10 schools listed have had low levels of proficiency in math and reading over a three-year period and a low level of improvement, according to the state. These schools are now eligible to apply for a share of school improvement grants for up to three years, provided they agree to pursue an aggressive plan for turning around the school. Under federal guidelines, they would have to agree to one of the following models: redesign or replace the school; convert the school to a charter school; transform the school through comprehensive reforms; or close the school and transfer students to higher performing schools in the district.
“This is an incredible opportunity for schools,” Gendron said. “The opportunities it creates for kids are significant.”
Gendron emphasized that the state will work with the at-risk schools to develop plans for improving student performance. None of the schools are required to apply for the grant money.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Maine was required to identify the five schools with the lowest combined performance on reading and mathematics assessments in each of two different groups:
• Title I schools that have not made progress according to NCLB for two or more years; and
• High schools that are eligible for Title I funds but whose districts are using those funds in other schools.
According to the state press release, Houlton and Hodgdon — along with the other eight schools — are not the lowest performing schools in the state. Instead, they are the lowest performing schools in two specific groups of schools by a definition set in consultation with the U.S. Department of Education.
“We realize it is not just the school, it’s students and parents … all of us working together,” McDaniel said. “I’m disappointed in that the state red-flagged the Title I schools.”
SAD 70 discussed the report in an executive session during their Monday night meeting.
SAD 29 has not had an opportunity to share the report with its board, but Fitzpatrick said he had shared the information with his staff.
“It comes down to what the state’s definition is for not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress,” Fitzpatrick said. “Historically, we are right in the middle at 65th out of 120 schools on the SAT testing.”
Staff reaction
As word began to circulate among teachers and administrators that Houlton High School was about to be labeled as a “Low-Performing” school, many in the district expressed concern over how the news would be perceived by the public.
“We do SAT prep, but not with Title I money,” said SAD 29 Curriculum Coordinator Dawn Dougan. “We use the money for learning labs, for those students who struggle in English to get additional help. We do a math lab as well, but use district money for that. We have a large number of students that missed the “meets” category. Up to 20 students, on any given year, miss that category by one or two questions.”
“We’ve recognized that we need to make progress because of our one sub-category group [economically disadvantaged] and have been identified as a “needs improvement school,” Dougan said. “The oddity is that last year, we made the gains that the state asked us to do. We made adequate yearly progress in all categories for reading and math. If we make the same gains this coming SAT period, we will be off the list and no longer considered a low-performing school.”
“When you rank the schools on three-year averages for SAT testing, there are 60 schools we rank ahead of,” Houlton High School Principal Marty Bouchard said. “In addition to that, a key measurement for us being put into this determination was the fact that we were a CIPS [Continuous Improvement Priority School]. In just over a month, our juniors will take the SATs. If they meet the standard again, we will not longer be a CIPS school, but we will be viewed as one of the five lowest in the state.”
“It is disconcerting to see the state fail to acknowledge the quality of education that we are able to offer students at Houlton High School.”
HHS teacher, parent
Bouchard explained the state chose an arbitrary selection of years to measure the results by.
“They chose 2006-2007 as the baseline,” he said. “We just happened to have a tremendous year [on the SAT tests] that year. They then measured growth from that point.”
“We have had a marginal decline since then,” Dougan added.
Bouchard added another way to look at the situation was to use the following analogy.
“If you looked at the profits of businesses in Houlton and the state a couple of years ago, they were doing pretty well,” Bouchard said. “But if you measured that against how they are doing now, it wouldn’t be good.”
Dougan added if the state had instead used a four-year average, or a two-year average, instead of the three-year plan, the district would likely not even be in the discussion.
“Statistically, we have about one student a year that didn’t make the ‘meets’ category that has put us in this pool,” Dougan said. “The bottom line is Houlton is still the same high school as it was yesterday. The only difference is the state, in order to gain $12 million in federal money had to identify 10 schools. They had a definition for selecting schools and Houlton happened to fall into that along with nine other schools.”
“The state could have picked three or four other measures, which would have ranked us in the top 40 percent of schools in Maine,” added Bouchard. “It was just not too many years ago that we were asked to show other schools how we do things because we were a model school.”
“I am very concerned about the information given by the State of Maine Department of Education to SAD 29 last Friday,” said Gloria Powers, a math teacher at HHS. “Houlton High School is not a failing school; it is the formula the state used that makes HHS appear to be failing. HHS has been meeting AYP in math. Furthermore, the administrators have worked to provide opportunities for students to get extra help, such as math lab, peer tutoring, and SAT prep classes.
“All third-year high school students in Maine are required by the state to take the SAT test the first Saturday in May,” Powers added. “Statistically the data collected can be skewed to show whatever the state wants. I hope that public looks at what HHS is doing for their students, the good things the students are doing and not label HHS as a failing school.”
“It is disconcerting to see the state fail to acknowledge the quality of education that we are able to offer students at Houlton High School,” said Traci Storti-Wilde, a teacher at HHS and parent. “We strive to afford our students a well-rounded education that will lead to future success. We do not simply teach to one test, namely the SAT; in fact, it is unprofessional and unethical to sacrifice a strong core of academic skills for a mere glimpse of student aptitude. As a parent, I would not consider sending my children to another school. We need only to look to our recent graduates to see the opportunities available here at HHS if the student accepts the challenge.”
