Assessing

a drop in

standards
After an exhaustive public process, with backing from the Legislature, the Maine Educational Assessment was initiated in 1985.

Now, with no formal public input whatsoever and no legislative directive, the Maine Department of Education is scrapping half of the test – dropping assessments of social studies, health and visual and performing arts altogether – to ease teacher and student stress.

This is akin to raising science, math and English to varsity level scholastics and relegating everything else to an intramural schedule.

The MEA was created under Maine’s Educational Reform Act of 1984 and redesigned four years ago when the Legislature approved Learning Results. The assessment tests, given to fourth-, eighth- and 11th-graders, measure student and school progress.

The Learning Results statute requires that student achievement be measured by a combination of assessments to evaluate programs and ensure accountability. The MEA is specifically identified as the “state assessments used to measure achievement of the Learning Results,” which includes achievement in social studies, health and the arts.

Schools are free to develop additional assessments, like student portfolios and performances, but the MEA is the official yardstick of accomplishment.

Chopping the MEA in half eliminates half of that measurement.

There is no question that the MEA is tough because our standards are tough.

The test is given twice a year three times during a child’s public school education. That’s six tests, or one test hour for every 300 hours of classroom instruction by the Department of Education’s own calculation. That seems an acceptable fraction of time to test the worth of an education that costs taxpayers an average of $86,325.72 per child during his or her K-12 career.

Several years ago the Department of Education, responding to criticism from educators and parents, trimmed the MEA and made some of the testing materials easier to use. These were minor changes made as a matter of policy in response to criticisms raised by teachers and parents.

More radical changes, like dropping three subject areas entirely, can also be made under department policy. There is no requirement to bring the matter to the public.

While a requirement to seek input through a formal hearing process may not be legally necessary, it is most certainly appropriate.

Since 1985, thousands of Maine people have contributed to the framework of the MEA and every school in the state has re-worked curricula to propel students toward greater achievement outlined in the Learning Results.

Teachers have often complained that this means they must teach to the test, but even the state doesn’t believe that’s such a bad idea because the test is designed to measure essential knowledge and skills and schools are encouraged to match classroom work to assessments.

The purpose in dropping social studies, health and arts from the MEA is to allow teachers to concentrate more fully on science, math and English to avoid a failing reputation and reduced funding under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The danger is that curricula will now be narrowed even further, sacrificing other lessons essential to a well-rounded education.

So, despite educators’ earnest assurances that Maine standards would never be relaxed to satisfy the lesser federal standards, that will be the inevitable consequence as schools heighten their focus on English, math and science.


[email protected]