LEWISTON – A group working to improve Maine schools issued a stinging report on Lewiston High School, indicating problems in how education is delivered.

Educators reacted by saying the problems raised in the report are the same in high schools everywhere.

The Great Maine Schools Project criticized Lewiston High for having too much tracking, students who aren’t engaged in classes, education that isn’t rigorous and teachers not enthused about reform.

But the report also praised Lewiston, for being a leader in Maine for aspirations programs including Early College, for how it teams teachers and ninth-graders, how teachers act as coaches, its innovative math program and the school’s healthy social culture and climate.

Principal Gus LeBlanc wasn’t at the high school in May when the one-day visit was made. He said Tuesday he’ll work on shortcomings.

Some points raised in the report “are issues we’ve known about all along,” LeBlanc said. “We can do better than what we’re doing.”

Superintendent Leon Levesque said he disliked how the report was given, that the one-day site visit was not long enough. And part of the report seemed to be “editorializing,” he said.

“Boy, if this is happening every day, this is a problem. We need to be asking teachers what does it mean to have a diploma from Lewiston High School? What do we do to engage students every day?”

Levesque said he wants Lewiston to be a school of excellence. “We wouldn’t be in the Great Maine Schools if we didn’t want to improve.”

J. Duke Albanese of the Great Maine Schools Project acknowledged Lewiston was critiqued harshly. “We’re pretty tough on schools,” he said.

Across the country there are calls for high schools to change, he said. High schools can no longer provide top courses for just the select few going to college.

“Now we’re saying to high schools: ‘It’s your job to get all kids ready for college or the world of work,” said Albanese, a former Maine education commissioner. “That’s a huge, new task. Lewiston has a ways to go, but is working toward that.”

Lewiston applied and was accepted to be a part of the Great Maine Schools Project, which operates on a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is coordinated by the Portland-based Mitchell Institute. Lewiston is one of 18 to 20 Maine schools in the project.

Problem areas

Student engagement: According to the report student involvement in classrooms appeared to be a serious issue. In only 54 percent of the observations the visiting team noted at least 75 percent of students actively engaged.

On the day classes were observed, teachers were lecturing students as opposed to students actively engaged with peers in groups.

Student engagement is something all schools struggle with, Levesque said. “Today’s students come from a high-tech world.” How to make education challenging, exciting and relevant to today’s students is a challenge, Levesque said.

Academic rigor: Students should be given more challenging work, the report said. “It is difficult to believe that Lewiston’s students will be adequately prepared for college and work … if the level of academic rigor we observed is the norm,” the report said.

LeBlanc said when the report talks about academic rigor, it is referring to “high-order thinking skills. Not just can kids memorize history, can they take that knowledge” and apply it. The report’s comment doesn’t mean kids aren’t learning, he said. “It means on this day when they went in they didn’t see a high percentage of high-order tasks” being required of students. That’s something the school is working on, LeBlanc said. It’s important that rigorous courses are available to all, “and not only available to an elite group of students.”

Tracking: According to the report, Lewiston “is one of the most heavily tracked high schools involved in the Great Maine Schools Project.” High schools used to offer college prep, business, vocational or general track courses. Lewiston and other schools no longer do that, LeBlanc said.

But in some subject areas Lewiston offers too many levels: advanced placement, academic, grade level and concept, which is a remedial course.

Four levels is “too broad,” LeBlanc said. Students in grade level or concept classes may not have challenging enough content to allow them to go to college. The school is having serious discussions about how to reduce tracks, LeBlanc said.

Teachers not enthused about reform: When the visiting team came last May, it received “an unenthusiastic reception from the faculty,” the report said. Only 30 or so teachers stayed for a community meeting to discuss the project.

LeBlanc said that meeting should have been handled differently. Teachers were told the meeting was optional, and the meeting was held at the end of the day. Teachers should have been told the meeting was important, and it should have been part of their day. When the visiting team returns this spring, “they’ll find out that Lewiston High staff are seriously engaged,” he said.

Mixed report

The Great Maine Schools Project made a one-day visit to Lewiston High School in May. Among the negative findings in the group’s report:

Too few students engaged during classes;

Not enough students being rigorously challenged;

A faculty that’s not committed to reform;

A heavily tracked school;

Too few teachers using technology.

Among positive findings, Lewiston High was praised for:

Creating teams of teachers and students in the 9th grade;

Being a leader in Maine for raising aspirations including the early college program, which allows students to take college courses while in high school;

A healthy culture and climate where students of all backgrounds socialize and are welcomed;

New leadership in Principal Gus LeBlanc who “will provide strong, courageous leadership that will serve the school well in its future efforts.”