Superintendents in York County reacted to their schools’ state-issued grades in comments Thursday:

Biddeford

“It was a rough day,” said Biddeford Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray, after receiving the Department of Education report card for Biddeford schools.

Biddeford Intermediate School received a D grade, Biddeford Middle School received an F and Biddeford High School received a C. The grade for the high school stayed the same as last year, but the other two schools dropped a grade.

It’s important to keep in mind this is just a “snapshot” of the schools and “one piece of the puzzle,” said Ray. “It doesn’t define schools.”

Since the report cards are based in large part on standardized tests that take place in October, he said, they don’t measure the result of work that has happened this year to make improvements, such as instituting consolidated learning blocks in both the middle school and high school.

These 40-minute blocks are designed to give students extra time and assistance to focus on reading, math and other areas.

Ray also noted that in the past several years, the Biddeford School Department has lost federally funded Title 1 positions that provide help to students who need it, as well as other instruction positions.

When trying to improve education, he said, there is no replacement for good teachers.

With these results, Ray said administrators and teachers would “reflect” on the grades. “We’ll look at what has been working for us and what hasn’t” as well as “what works for others.”

As for the state grading system in general, he said, “It certainly creates a lot of turmoil. It’s tough for teachers, who work extremely hard, to see this. Nobody feels good.”

thornton academy

In a letter to parents, Thornton Academy Headmaster Rene Menard said that 334 juniors took the SAT test, and performed with a reading and mathematics proficiency similar to the state average, which should have granted the school a “C” overall.

Menard said the school was assigned a “D” for falling below the 95 percent SAT test participation rate. The participation rate for the school was 94.1 percent, or four students short of 95 percent, said Menard.

“The School Performance Grade does not represent accurately the quality of a Thornton Academy education,” said Menard.

Menard said the school this spring has implemented a number of changes to support student participation and performance on the SAT tests. The school is adapting its testing options to accommodate more students with medical conditions or other obstacles that prevent them from participating in the test, and is also offering free SAT test preparation courses and workshops.

“These changes have made it possible for us to achieve 100 percent SAT testing participation for the Class of 2015,” he said.

rsu 23

“The state letter grade system has the same flaw that it had last year: that the scores closely mirror socio-economic status of communities,” said Regional School Unit 23 Superintendent of Schools Patrick Phillips, in an email statement.  

“That being said, there are things that schools can learn from the data, for instance, that participation in the state testing program matters,” he said.

Phillips said both Thornton Academy and Old Orchard Beach High School were penalized for having participation rates of less than 95 percent.

Phillips said that C.K. Burns School improved in almost every category measured, but did not reach the next letter grade.

“My hope is that parents and citizens will ”˜dig into the data’ as Commissioner Rier suggests, rather than assume that whole story is in the headline letter grade,” said Phillips. “We will posting our take on RSU 23 letter grades next week on our website’s home page.”

sanford

Sanford School Department’s results were mixed. Carl J. Lamb Elementary School earned a C grade, unchanged from last year.

Sanford Junior High School dropped a grade, from C to D, while Sanford High School improved a grade, from D to C.

Superintendent of Schools David Theoharides wasn’t available for comment by press time this morning.

rsu 57

Regional School Unit 57 Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Davis said Thursday that “the grading scheme established by the state is not a reliable source of information for the district.

“We take it and absorb it, but we don’t use it seriously,” he said. “It doesn’t give us the full measure of what we value about our schools.”

Davis said the district can’t even compare last year’s results to this year’s, as the state has changed how it weights different evaluation factors. As well, he said, May is too late to get an assessment of student performance.

Instead, RSU 57 looks at how many students are college-bound after graduation, attendance rates, and the state and local assessments students take throughout the year. The district also looks at the performance of the next crop of high school students, in grades six through nine, to see how well they are prepared to enter high school.

rsu 21

In Regional School Unit 21, the schools that received As in 2013 scored Bs on this year’s annual grading chart from the DOE ”“ these include Mildred L. Day School in Arundel, Kennebunk High School, and the Middle School of the Kennebunks ”“ and the schools that scored Bs last year were upgraded to As. Sea Road School and Kennebunkport Consolidated School achieved this feat.

“For us, the news is pretty solid,” said RSU Superintendent Andrew Dolloff, but cautioned that the results are not a final verdict on any school in the state.

“It’s a simple snapshot in time of the work that we’re doing,” he said. “There’s some affirmation to be taken from the grades.”

Dolloff said that schools that get As have a more difficult task in repeating the achievement, since much of the DOE’S metric is based on how much the lower 25 percent of students in those schools showed improvement over the course of a year. If they did well, there’s naturally less room for improvement in subsequent years.

For the RSU, the task of providing quality education continues.

“We are always trying to determine how we can help students reach proficiency,” said Dolloff.

Wells-Ogunquit

“We have nothing to complain about,” said Wells-Ogunquit Community School District Superintendent of Schools Ellen Schneider, in response to the release of the state report cards.

Wells Elementary School and Wells Junior High School both received a B grade, while Wells High School received an A. The high school and elementary school both jumped a grade over last years report card.

Schneider credits the good marks to a “robust academic program,” teachers and administrators who excel at what they do, and added that, “We take pride in striving to improve what we do.”

Schneider said she was pleased with the WOCSD grades, but she didn’t give high marks to the state grading system.

“I feel there is room for improvement in the reporting formula,” she said. The Department of Education should “make sure it isn’t portraying some school systems unfairly.”

Schneider added that the DOE reporting system should use the same proficiency model the department forces schools to adopt.