Currents in Education
New testing program and TABOR top recent School Committee discussions
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - The November statewide election may seem far away now, but as school officials noted in the past week, with such initiatives as the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the ballot, it is not too soon to begin getting up to speed on the issues.That was the consensus of the School Committee and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione when the board met last Wednesday, Sept. 6, at the York Public Library.
Following a lively discussion of the success of the first days of school, the talk turned to planning for the future.
One of the key issues discussed was a plan to implement a new pilot program for the using the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress testing system to assess student achievement.
Currently, the York School Department uses the Terra Nova national tests for assessment of this kind, but Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Maryann Minard said the NWEA program is used by the other high-achieving Maine schools customarily compared with York, as well as by several neighboring districts.
The pilot program of the computer-based tests will be administered this year in grades 2, 3, 6 and 9 in an effort to be sure students in all four schools take the tests. If the program goes well, it will be expanded next year.
Terra Nova tests will be administered in the other grades as usual during this pilot program.
The benefits of NWEA include providing more individualized information on each student for teachers, parents and student goal-setting, Minard explained.
While York has consistently scored above state and national averages on the Terra Novas, Minard said, "The message we've received consistently is … we definitely need to improve the information we receive from our large-scale assessments."
The NWEA tests are also more cost-effective in the long-term, Minard said.
"We really do want to be able to use the measures of large-scale assessments to be able to monitor trends and report the overall student successes and needs … but we want to do more," she said, adding that with the NWEA, "we can administer these assessments up to four times a year."
Approximately one hour per instructional area is needed for students taking the NWEA tests, as opposed to what can amount to a full week of testing time with the Terra Novas.
Previously, Minard said, the technology and associated staff were not in place to manage the NWEA, but that is no longer the case.
Scipione noted this is an evolving process that will be assessed over the course of the year.
From the strength of student assessment and future planning, talk turned to the looming TABOR initiative on the November ballot, and how to best educate the public on the potential impact of this plan on York's schools and the community as a whole.
Scipione recently attended a workshop on TABOR in Augusta that included a visit from a Colorado state legislator who discussed what he described as the "disastrous" impact of 15 years of the equivalent of TABOR on that state.
Unlike last year's failed Palesky proposal, Scipione noted, which was written as an amendment to the Maine Constitution, it will be up to the Maine Legislature to implement TABOR if it passes at the polls in November. That difference spurred a discussion of whether towns might be able to "opt out" of the plan if they defeat it locally.
All those details, Scipione said, really remain to be seen.
"For me, the answers are in the numbers," said School Committee Chairwoman Patty Hymanson of the negative impact of TABOR on local communities. "This was a citizens' referendum, so there were a certain number of signatures that were collected. … The wording on the ballot is 'Mom and Apple Pie.' It's nothing that anybody would ever reject … but the reality is … if this had been in place over the past five years, it would have drastically changed our district … because we would have had insufficient funds to do what we have done."
The School Committee members agreed a key step will be to organize public information and that it is important to work with the Board of Selectmen and Town Manager Rob Yandow to make the community aware of the facts behind TABOR and its implications.
See next week's edition of The Independent for a closer look at the TABOR discussions and an update on public information about the proposal.
