AUBURN — Test scores of high school juniors last May were below the state average — and significantly below in three of four subjects — according to data given to the School Committee on Wednesday night.

The scores could help show why there’s a need to change how high school students learn, educators said, adding that changes are coming next year to Edward Little High School.

EL juniors testing at proficient levels on the SAT in May were 37 percent in reading, compared to 47 statewide; 42 percent in math (46 percent statewide); 35 percent in writing (47 percent statewide); and 34 percent in science (45 percent statewide).

“We were hoping to see growth. We did not realize that,” said Shelly Mogul, Auburn’s director of the Office of Learning and Teaching. “This is not data that makes us happy.”

Educators were disappointed, she said, especially because improvements were made in the high school’s Math Department to help more students, including more labs and one-on-one work.

“It’s hard for me to say what’s going on,” Mogul said.

The SAT, which was designed for college acceptance, is a high bar, but all Maine high school juniors take the test. Nationwide, only a select group of college-bound students take the SAT.

The latest SAT results for Auburn are worse than the previous two years, when 44 and 45 percent of students were proficient in reading, and 44 and 47 percent were proficient in math.

School Committee members had little reaction. One noted that statewide results went down in the past year, from 50 percent proficient in reading last year to 47.

Committee member Laurie Tannenbaum said the SAT is not indicative of what students know, adding that some take the SAT more than once, focusing hard on one subject one time, and another the next, with the goal of providing the highest scores to colleges.

Mogul said the School Department had worked hard to create “a burning platform for change” at the high school. The disappointing scores may have lit that platform, she said.

Changes in how Edward Little students learn will begin this year, incorporating “mass customized learning,” which involved individualized lessons and more use of technology.

From now through November, a design team including department heads will help lay the groundwork among teachers for new ways of teaching, giving more ownership to students. Meanwhile, classroom teachers will give students expectations of that they’re to know and will identify learning goals for each class.

Most students are not focused on learning goals, Mogul said. “They’re focused on assignments, not goals.”

That will change. Students will have to understand their overall goals, “starting the process for turning learning over to them,” Mogul said.

But other than building a foundation for change, “you won’t see anything radically different” at Edward Little until next year,” she said.

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