By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – High school juniors may soon have to take the SATs to prove they’ve learned everything they were supposed to.

The college entrance exam would replace the 11th-grade MEA, or Maine Educational Assessment, which is used to gauge how well students meet state education standards. Officials hope the change will help boost college attendance.

“We think it’s doable,” said Education Commissioner Susan Gendron. “We’re really pushing at this.”

Gendron made the SAT announcement during a conference on higher education Thursday. More than 150 state officials and education leaders gathered at Bates College in Lewiston to discuss ways to increase college attendance in Maine.

Thirty-seven percent of Maine people over 25 have a college degree, while the New England average is 45 percent, University of New England President Sandra Featherman told the group. In order to meet the New England average by 2020, according to the Maine Compact for Higher Education, Maine will have to add 40,000 college graduates.

During the conference, officials talked about possible solutions. Gov. John Baldacci announced a pilot program that will help laid-off part-time workers find and pay for higher education so they have the skills to get a better job. The Department of Labor is still working on some of the details, but Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said the program will be open to people statewide.

During her turn at the podium, Gendron said she might ask the Legislature to stop schools from “tracking” students, or separating them into general, college preparatory and honors courses. Then she announced plans to swap the MEA for the SAT.

State officials, an independent researcher and the College Board, the company that oversees and distributes the SAT, have spent months studying the issue. They believe the SAT matches Maine’s education standards and can replace the state’s own test, Gendron said.

She believes a few other states, including Michigan and Illinois, have adopted a college entrance exam as the standardized test. Maine already requires high school students to take the Preliminary SAT, or PSAT, but that test is not used to show which students meet state standards.

Gendron will meet one more time with test officials, but she said she is “99.9 percent sure” she will make the change. She will report her findings and plans to the Legislature’s education committee this fall, but she does not need legislative approval.

“We’re going to have the conversation. Then I’m moving forward,” she said.

Swapping the MEA with the SAT would mean one less test for the 77 percent of students who already take the MEA for the state and the SAT for their college applications. It will also mean one free SAT for all juniors because the state will pay for that test rather than the MEA.

Gendron also hopes the change will get all teenagers thinking about college.

“We need to tell our students, It’s when and where you’re going to college, not if,'” she said.