LEWISTON — After last year’s messy, confusing launch of proficiency-based lessons for Lewiston High School freshmen, the percentage who needed summer school didn’t change compared to recent years.

After the close of school in June, 47.9 percent, or 167 freshmen, didn’t earn course credits in one or more classes. That compares to 44.4 percent (173 students) in 2013-14; 52 percent (169 students) in 2012-13, and 50.8 percent (162) in 2011-12, according to Lewiston High School Principal Shawn Chabot.

The number of freshmen who failed is too high, Chabot said. But the high school last year dramatically increased the rigor of academics and held freshmen to higher standards.

Proficiency-based education is a system of instruction, assessment and grading based on students demonstrating that they have learned the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn, according to edglossary.com.

The numbers don’t show what many freshmen parents feared: that proficiency-based lessons would cause more students to fail.

“The encouraging thing to me is the fact that we did increase our rigor this year, and our students were able to rise to the occasion, based on results of the past year,” Superintendent Bill Webster said.

Because of the proficiency-based approach in this year’s freshmen summer school, “we’re going to be more successful.”

With proficiency-based lessons, freshmen don’t repeat entire courses, only the parts they’re missing. Some students are done in a few days, others need the entire five weeks.

Tammy Thibodeau is in her 11th year of coordinating summer school, which runs from July 6 to Aug. 6.

“When I first heard about (proficiency-based lessons), I was scared to death,” she said. “I was not sure how it was going to work.”

On Tuesday she said, “I love the program. The kids are highly motivated. They know precisely what they need to do. They get it done. Some kids are finished.”

As of Tuesday, 76 of 136 freshmen had earned credit. That’s exciting, Thibodeau said. “And we still have seven more days. We don’t finish until next Thursday.”

Amanda Guy, who is teaching freshmen English this summer, said proficiency-based learning “is the right thing to do.” It allows her to give a grade that doesn’t reflect whether students did all of their homework, “but what you can do in English class.”

Science teacher Tom Stocker said he was anxious about teaching proficiency-based lessons in summer school.

“I have been pleasantly surprised,” he said. “The students enrolled are here to learn. They realize they don’t have to do the entire course.”

He can have six students working on six different projects. Instead of lecturing in front of the class, he coaches each student individually. “I tell them they are in charge of their own learning. I’m a coach. I come around and give them individual instruction as they need it,” he said.

After a year of controversy around proficiency-based lessons, Superintendent Webster apologized in May for rolling out a new plan before the department was ready. While a state law said proficiency-based curriculums should be implemented with the Class of 2018, the state later said districts could take more time.

Lewiston announced in May it would postpone the new grading for three years but would continue with some parts of the plan. Meanwhile, the Class of 2018 will go back to traditional grades.

Students end up in summer school for different reasons, Stocker said. The freshman year is one of transition from middle school. Not all students are convinced they need to do the work. Others miss too much school, transfer from other districts or need more time to learn.

Stocker said he could see the merits of proficiency-based lessons. How it’s implemented is important, he said.

When introduced in high school with graduation not far away, the stakes are high, he said.

If proficiency-based lessons were launched in earlier grades, that would give everyone “time to come to terms with what it means to meet the standards.”

LEWISTON — In freshman English class Tuesday, Ryan Cremona worked on his essay about heroism. Another student worked on her analysis of how a serial killer landlord story was different in the book versus the movie.

Another student worked on vocabulary.

Last fall, Cremona said he liked the new proficiency-based learning. Students weren’t required to do homework. By June, he was struggling to finish his work.

“I’m working on that now,” he said. “I have four standards to complete, then I’ll move to math. I’m definitely motivated to finish summer school.”

Another student said she likes the new summer school program, but she wouldn’t be in summer school “if we had stuck with what we had before. I would have been passing all our classes.”

Standards-based learning last year for freshmen was harder and stressful, students said.

Bailey Bowman is not a fan of the new grading introduced last year. Students got grades of 1 to 4; three was passing, four was exceeding, one and two were not passing. The new grades didn’t correspond to the old.

“It was confusing,” Bowman said. “You’d have a 3. Then you’d get one or two wrong and you had a 2; it’s not passing.” The year before it would have been, she said.

While she dislikes some parts of proficiency-based learning, she liked changes in summer school.

“All the teachers help you,” she said. “There are smaller classes. You’re able to ask questions and understand.”

In freshman science class, Danielle Cyr worked on her project about the life cycle of the stars. Amanda Ouellette worked on her last summer school project about the greenhouse effect.

Cyr likes the proficiency-based learning summer school. “You stay until all of your standards are met,” Cyr said. “You could be here one day or the entire time. I’ve been here three days. I’m almost done.”

So was Ouellette, who said she doesn’t like that summer classes begin so early, at 7:25 a.m.

Cyr said she approves of proficiency-based learning, overall. “It shows you where you stand better than the other grading system. You pass a class based on proficiency, not based on being there.”