The Maine Department of Education released the results from the first and only year that Maine will use the “Smarter Balanced” standardized test, an aberration that leaves a gap in year-over-year student achievement data and saw inconsistent participation rates among schools in York County.

The “Smarter Balanced Assessment” was developed as part of Maine’s effort to evaluate students in math, science and English/ language arts. The testing was based on “Common Core” standards, a set of education proficiency benchmarks that have been adopted by a majority of states in the past couple of years. The Maine Department of Education expected that the more rigorous standards and the different testing system would mean lower overall scores for Maine in the first year.

“The shift to a computerized assessment from paper and pencil was difficult enough, but the shift to new standards and a more rigorous assessment made this year’s effort an unusually difficult task,” Acting Education Commissioner Tom Desjardin said in a press release.

The state is currently in the process of selecting another system for administering standardized testing throughout the state, as legislation adopted in June of 2015 repealed the Smarter Balanced test. The department noted that the standards the state is testing as well as the choice to move to digital testing will remain the same. In previous years, the state used the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP, test to determine student achievement. By the year 2018, Maine students must demonstrate proficiency in each of the eight areas of the “Maine Learning Results” to graduate.

As the testing loomed in spring of this year, parents and school districts across York County clashed over the opt out procedure. Districts were advised not to advertise the right to opt out, as federal rules dictated if less than 95 percent of the student enrollment took the test, the proficiency data would be considered incomplete and the school would be ineligible for certain federal funds – a system that would hit lower-performing schools particularly hard.

Biddeford schools began giving the test amid legislative discussions that eventually repealed the Smarter Balanced Test. In addition, there was a public movement to encourage students to opt out, which Superintendent Jeremy Ray said likely skewed Biddeford’s proficiency results. Those results were on the lower end of the spectrum. Biddeford High School had a 52 percent participation rate for the math test, and just 16 percent achieved proficiency, while 54 percent participated in the ELA test, with 41 percent achieving proficiency. Ray said that the district tried to send an honest communication about the right to opt out of the testing.

“I think the opt out certainly throws the data into question as to what the access of the kids who opted out in the high school,” he said. “Were they kids who had their own transportation who could leave in the middle of the day? Were they kids of families involved in the (opt out) movement? … I think additionally when you look at the math scores, these weren’t reflecting what kids were doing on the SAT a year ago.

Ray suggested that the Department of Education bring back the SAT as the state’s proficiency benchmark because it effectively solves two problems at once: Providing consistent year-over-year data on how effectively students are learning, as well as making it easier for students to complete a major component of college applications.

“In years past, we had no problem to get to that 90 to 95 percent participation (rate) which then opens up the door to college. It gives you an assessment and a data point but it also opens up the door for you,” Ray said.

In RSU 21, where parents regularly spoke out during School Board meetings about the district’s reluctance to advertise opting out of the test, participation rates were high, above 90 percent. About 30 percent of high school participants achieved proficiency in math, and 62 percent in English/language arts.

At Sanford High school, participation rates were particularly low, with only 8 percent of students taking the science assessment, and even lower numbers on the math and ELA assessment.

To access the Smarter Balanced Assessment data for each school in Maine, visit the Maine Department of Education’s website at http://mainedoenews.net/2015/09/11/standardized assessment-scores-for- 2014-15/.