The announcement of the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) testing period at the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District (CSD) committee meeting on March 8 prompted questions from member Bruce MacDonald.

Boothbay Region Elementary School Principal Mark Tess announced starting the week of March 20, grades three through eight would be tested in reading and math. In May, the same students will be tested in writing and, also in May, grades five through eight will be tested in science. “At our next board meeting, my plan is to give you insight into the tests the kids will be taking,” Tess said. 

MacDonald asked, “Are these the kinds of tests that bring back benefit to the classroom and teachers? Is there anything that comes back to the classroom in the way of diagnostic help?”

Tess said, yes, once the school has collected several years of data. But that has been difficult, because, Tess said, “This is the fifth year in a row we’ve had a different test. It’s hard to get reliable, valid data.”

Asked MacDonald, “Five years in a row? Five different tests?”

Assistant Superintendent Shawn Carlson said, “It hasn’t worked very well, yet. We’ve seen the state respond to pressures from anti-standards movement people, so they’ve swapped out the test that was aligned directly with the common core after a year of using it. We’re in the second year of this test, so perhaps another year, the data begins to reflect something meaningful.”

Carlson also reminded committee members that tests are given for different reasons. The MEA test, he explained, evaluates school systems rather than students. “Sometimes it’s a misnomer to say we don’t have these reports to go home to parents because that’s not the audience. The audience is the community, the board, the administrators,” he said.

“Sometime we should have a good debate on whether or not it’s meant to evaluate the school, as you say, and not the student, if that’s inadequate or a good or valid way of measuring,” MacDonald said. 

“This is meant to be one piece of an evaluation on a student. But whatever we score, that’s going to be the grade that gets put in front of the newspaper. It doesn’t tell you it’s one piece of a child’s education,” Tess said.

Superintendent Eileen King told the committee the district is exploring other ways to define success for students. She mentioned a national initiative called Redefining Ready!, a program initiated by the School Superintendents Association to expand the measurements of academic achievement.  “There are many different ways to determine success for a school and for a child,” King said.

Tess continued his principal’s report by announcing that four students will be traveling to Bangor to attend the Maine Youth Action Network (MYAN). The conference focuses on youth leadership and, in part, deals with mental health and addiction issues. “It’s an interesting time for kids to share with adults what they’re seeing as stressors,” Tess said. 

Boothbay Region High School Principal Dan Welch announced he has chosen senior Molly Thibault to receive the Maine Principal Association’s (MPA) award for her work with MYAN. “Molly has done a lot of work with MYAN. She’s attended the summit many times and is involved in our student health advisory board,” Welch said. In April, Welch and Thibault will attend a banquet in Bangor honoring Maine’s MPA recipients.

Welch told the committee the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) will be administered to juniors and seniors April 5. Math instructor Matt Brewer will be available for free SAT preparation for all BRHS students.

BRHS Athletic Director Allan Crocker praised retiring BRHS girls basketball coach Tanner Grover, who stepped down this year. “He had, in my opinion, as good a five-year stretch as any coach that’s coached girls basketball, and maybe in any sport,” Crocker said. “He did a great job for us. He’s going to be impossible to replace.”