As local educators have reviewed scores from the Maine Educational Assessment, they’ve found most students in Westbrook and Gorham are performing at or above state averages.

The tests are given to students in fourth, eighth and 11th grades each spring, and they are used as a blueprint for schools to see how their students are performing. The tests cover four areas: writing, reading, math, and science and technology. The most recent results were released three weeks ago.

Scores for tests taken in March show that Westbrook students improved over last year’s results in most areas, with a slight dip in 11th-grade science scores and scores for reading at Congin School. Westbrook Assistant Superintendent Jan Breton said she is generally pleased with Westbrook’s results.

“We’re seeing some trends,” she said. “Particularly in the profiles at the junior high school and the high school. We’re going in the right direction.”

Breton said she was not sure of the reason behind the decline in reading scores at Congin, especially when scores at Canal did not share the same trend. She said Principal Peter Lancia and the school’s staff are looking into the problem and working to come up with a way to address it.

Karen Rumery, director of assessment and curriculum for the Gorham School Department, said she is pleased with Gorham’s overall MEA scores and the gains the school system has made in the past year. But she said the schools are still looking at ways to improve the scores and the staff is analyzing the results to see how that can be done.

Rumery said high school math scores dropped a bit this year after results jumped up 16 points last year. However, this year’s high school math scores were still above the state average, she said.

Rumery praised the quality of high school math teachers she felt played a big role in last year’s big jump in results. “We have excellent math folks who work hard,” she said. “They’ve done a good job in getting kids interested.”

Combining the percentage that exceeded standards with those who met them, she said Gorham’s middle school gained nine points and the fourth grade gained six points in math over last year’s results. “We were pleased with that,” she said.

Writing is an area where Rumery hopes for improvement, although she said noticeable gains were made. At the fourth-grade level, Gorham reduced its percentage of students who weren’t meeting the state standard in writing from 17 percent to 15 percent this year. But “We’ll be looking at it at the fourth-grade level,” Rumery said. “I am concerned about writing,” she said.

The eighth grade went up eight points in writing, Rumery said. And Gorham High School reduced its percentage of students who were not meeting the state standard from 18 percent last year in writing to 8 percent this year.

Federal education officials review Maine Educational Assessment scores for the No Child Left Behind Act to determine whether students are making the progress that they should be. Rumery said the Maine Educational Assessment sets high expectations on students compared to other tests.

While she wants to see the schools meet the standard, Breton said some of the future expectations might be too high for any school to reach. She said the state plans to increase the percentages of students who have to meet the standards each year, eventually reaching 100 percent of all students by 2013-2014. Breton said it would be extremely difficult for each and every group of students, including special education and students whose first language is not English, to reach those standards. She said if the current plan stays in place, she could see a majority of the schools in the state not making adequate yearly progress. “To think every student is going to meet or exceed those standards is an unattainable goal,” she said.

In Westbrook, the junior high school was cited for not making adequate yearly progress last year, and since schools appear on the list for two years, Breton said the school would appear on the list again this year.

The school was placed on the list because two subgroups of student MEA scores in reading and math fell below the standards set by the state. Last year, Breton said the group that failed to meet the reading standard were students with disabilities and poor students. In math, students with disabilities failed to meet the state standard.

Breton said the School Department has not yet received the breakdown of the scores for each of the different groups. As a result, she was unsure whether any schools in Westbrook would be cited for not making adequate yearly progress this year. She said she expects to get that information from the state soon.

Breton said even without the group breakdowns, the overall test scores show her the schools have been improving. “It takes time,” she said.

Gorham’s Village School boosted its scores for children in special education and graduated from the adequate yearly progress list it was placed on last year. Rumery said the special education kids at the school weren’t making comparable gains to other groups of kids. The school made positive gains in this year’s results.

Rumery is meeting this week individually with principals of the Village, middle and high schools to discuss results. She said she plans to make a presentation on the scores to the Gorham School Committee on Sept. 28.

“It’s important to spend time to look at it,” Rumery said of results. “In the past, some people just put it on a shelf.”

But the scores are just one piece of the pie from which information is gathered. National testing is also a barometer, along with analyzing the day-by-day classroom results. “We have our local assessment system,” Rumery said.

Westbrook also has a number of different tests it uses to determine student progress, including a computerized test where results are available in 24 hours, Breton said. She said the Maine Educational Assessment scores are an important measurement, but it is also important for the school to look at a wide scope of information when charting student progress.

“It’s one day in the life,” Rumery said of the scores. A student might have been sick that day, she said. But there are makeup sessions for students who might have missed the testing. She said for the most part, she thinks kids want to do their best on these tests, especially at the younger grade levels. “The fourth-graders want to please and want to give it their all,” Rumery said.

While Breton agrees most kids want to perform well on the tests, there are always students who might not take the tests as seriously as they could because it has no direct effect on them. She said she did not believe this was a phenomenon that was unique to Westbrook.

“I think there are some kids who don’t take this test seriously,” Breton said. “But I think kids in Westbrook take it as seriously as kids in other school systems, so I think it’s a wash.”

The Maine Educational Assessments are a work in progress. Each year, the state looks at ways to improve the tests. Breton shared a letter from State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron that outlined what the state is doing to improve the tests. The most significant potential change being discussed is to do away with the scores entirely for 11th-graders. Instead of the Maine assessments, the state would use students’ SAT scores. If the Department of Education makes this change, Gendron’s letter said it would be implemented for the 2005-2006 school year.

Whether or not the state makes any changes to the assessments is immaterial, said both Breton and Rumery. They said their schools are working hard to make sure their students are getting the best education possible.

“We’re happy we have made gains and want to continue to make progress,” Rumery said. “We’ve been working hard to revise curriculums.”

Breton said Westbrook’s goal is to be above state averages each and every year. “We would love to be above state average,” Breton said. “I think Westbrook expects its schools to be above state average.

Rumery shares that goal. “We’re there,” she said, “But couldn’t we be doing better? We’re never satisfied.”

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