BOARD GOALS 2005-2006

As the school year closes, it is important to take stock of how well we are addressing the Board’s goals. The Board has held virtually the same goals for the District for the last few years. This is because they are long-range in nature, requiring us to make incremental steps to meet them.

Goal One - Support the District’s efforts to meet the requirements of Chapter 127 and the No Child Left Behind legislation.

This goal is about improving the learning of our students. We can never be satisfied or complacent about how well our students learn, and must always be looking for ways to improve our capacity to make every student a successful learner.

Chapter 127 is the State Law that establishes the requirements for the Learning Results and academic accountability. It asks each school district to teach what students need to know and be able to do as articulated by the Maine Learning Results. It also asks schools to assess how well students have met those Learning Results through a local assessment system of classroom exams, assessments common to similar classes, and state and nationally-normed exams.

In October, the District met with a state visiting team which came to learn how well we had progressed toward meeting Maine’s expectations for the required local assessment system. While the team did not issue a formal report, we learned from its feedback that our local assessment system was working well.

This year, to improve the assessment system, we have instituted nationally-normed testing at both the beginning and the end of the school year through the grades to gauge student learning in math and literacy. The students take the tests (called MAP tests) on computers; the data is transmitted electronically to the test-maker, and the results are factored immediately. This allows the teachers and the District to get a better and immediate view of student learning and to use that information to plan instruction and meet student needs. While still in the exploratory stages, the program appears to hold great promise. There is money in the ’07 budget to continue this program.

One goal of the Middle School is to improve the literacy skills of students who are reading below grade level. It has included in the proposed budget a program called READ 180 that has proven successful in other school systems. One piece of the program takes advantage of the middle school laptop program.

This year the State replaced its 11^th grade MEA with the nationally-given Scholastic Aptitude Test. It also asked that students in grades 3-8 take state tests in math and language arts in March. In years past, the State MEA's were only given in grades 4, 8 and 11. These new tests will provide us with better information to help us target instruction.

Williams-Cone School and West Harpswell School received commendations this year from the Commissioner of Education for improving their scores on the MEA’s in each of the last three years. West Harpswell School was also recognized for being a “High Performing” school on the MEA’s in 2005. All schools as whole schools met the federal requirement for making annual yearly progress as defined by the No Child Left Behind Law. The NCLB expectation is that even sub-categories of students like those students identified as disadvantaged or needing Special Education have to meet the federal standard. In this regard, the high school special education sub-category did not meet this expectation in math.

Goal Two - Support the District efforts to personalize education.

The Board’s first goal helps us meet Goal Two, as it provides the information needed to know where each student is functioning along the learning continuum.

The School District recognizes that students learn in different ways and that it is often necessary to adjust instruction to address a student’s learning needs. Teachers differentiate instruction in the classroom so that students are provided with multiple ways to learn. This year the District has provided courses for teachers to enhance their skills in providing multiple approaches. The current year’s budget allowed the Gifted and Talented Program to grow to reach students in grades 3 – 12 through the addition of more personnel and programming. At the same time, the 2005-2006 budget provided for a full-time Alternative Education teacher at the middle school. The alternative program addresses the needs of students who require more differentiation than can be provided by a regular classroom teacher. The program now has eight students. There is an additional educational technician in the proposed budget so that the program can include more students.

This goal also includes the effort to provide Algebra I to as many middle school students as are capable and the supports that are needed to help them. More middle school students have been able to take Algebra I this year.

Goal Three - To increase the number of students attending post-secondary training and to decrease the number of disaffected students.

Steps to achieve the second goal apply to this third goal. Differentiation and alternative approaches to learning which lead to student success serve to decrease the number of students who become disaffected. Even so, there is much more that needs to be done to help students see the relevance of their education.

We recognize that the future career options for our students are ever-changing. Many of the jobs of today will not be available in the future; and that knowledge, creativity and a strong work ethic are the keys to being adaptable and successful.

We have focused on providing students and parents with information about post-secondary planning. Programs have been provided at all levels. The mentoring programs in the District have increased threefold over the year through the District’s partnership with the Merrymeeting Bay Mentoring Coalition which has helped build mentoring programs in our elementary schools in Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and Harpswell and has enhanced the programs in Topsham and at the middle school. Many Bowdoin College students volunteer their time as mentors to our students as do community members. These relationships provide students with role models and opportunities to learn.

At the same time, the Dean of Post-Secondary Planning has provided high school students with opportunities to visit college campuses and worked this year to institute an “Early College” program that facilitates opportunities for high school juniors and seniors to take college courses for little or no cost at the neighboring community colleges, USM, UMA and private colleges. As a result of these efforts we have seen our student applications to post-secondary training increase by over 10%.

We have also begun to explore a “Career Pathways” program to integrate into the middle and high school advisory efforts that will also increase student exploration of future career possibilities and the steps necessary to reach them. The All-Stars program which involved all sixth graders helped them learn how to plan for their future. Junior Achievement programs which teach students about American and world economics have been included at all academic levels.

The District’s Drop-Out Committee has been active this year as it looked at various ways to engage students in school. The high school instituted a Leadership and Resiliency program that has provided students with team and skill-building experiences through challenging activities and community service.

Goal Four - To evaluate the role technology should play in the instructional lives of students and the District’s degree of commitment to this vision.

The Maine Department of Education made a commitment to one-to-one student technology access when it put a laptop into the hands of every 7^th and 8^th grader in 2002. It has honored that commitment in the State budget for next year with the inclusion of replacement laptops for those purchased four years ago. The District has explored whether it can afford to move that program into the high school without State financial support. It has decided that the half-million dollar price tag of such an effort is not affordable. However, it does see the need for providing greater access to technology for students in ways that enhance their learning.

The District has a newly-formed Technology Integration Committee whose sole purpose is to support greater instructional expertise and increased student learning through technology. For the first time this year, teachers have received financial, professional development and moral support to research and apply instructional advantage through the work of this committee. The proposed budget supports providing more computer access to sixth graders to prepare them for the technology facilitated instruction in grade 7. It also continues the Technology Integration Initiative.

Students are graduating from Mt. Ararat with computer skills that facilitate writing, data analysis and information gathering. Technology is also used in specialized areas as, for example, students learn to compose music and create graphics on computers. Examples of the greater use of technology to meet instructional needs can be found in the MAP tests and in the literacy initiative READ 180 discussed in Goal One.

Goal 5 – To increase the involvement of parents and community in our school and our schools in the community.

The District appreciates the work of parents and community volunteers who support our schools in so many ways – as members of our school-based parent-teacher organizations, as volunteers in the classroom, as chaperones for events and trips, as donors of their time, energy and money for school-related activities, as experts for events like career days and exploratory programs. The District has been blessed with Sports Boosters whose fund raising and supportive efforts help us maintain the success of those programs, a Community/School OPAC advisory committee dedicated to making the Orion Performing Arts Center the best possible asset to the community, the theater troupe from Harpswell whose Mystery Dinner Theater annually raises thousands of dollars for our schools, and the parent group that organizes and sponsors our Project Graduation. The District is also heavily involved in the community-based Healthy Maine Partnership, collaborating with Mid Coast Hospital and Access Health to support the health and well-being of the larger community. The Riverview Foundation of Topsham has played an integral role in the previously mentioned Merrymeeting Bay Mentoring project, the Leadership and Resilience program and the All Stars programs. In conjunction with Brunswick, M.S.A.D. No. 75’s Gifted and Talented program is compiling a comprehensive list of community volunteers to connect with students about their vocations and avocations.

There is always a need, however, to better communicate and work with parents and community. We began the year with the development of a Parent Compact at each of the elementary schools that describes the roles and responsibilities for teachers, schools and parents in the education of the children. The Compacts serve to reinforce and remind us of the need to communicate and work together to make the school experience as positive and successful as possible.

The high school instituted a Service Learning course this year that sends students into the community to help with community efforts and at the same time learn how the community engages its members to address its needs. The Mentoring programs which are helping to meet Goal Three are examples of the work that is being done to engage the larger community in the work of the schools.

The Board is working toward the creation of an educational “foundation” for the District, modeled after similar 501(c)(3)’s in other school districts. At this point, the Board is looking for community members willing to serve as directors of this foundation.

Goal Six - Emphasize character development that sets high standards for tolerance, diversity and democracy education.

We believe that we have a responsibility to reinforce and teach the behaviors that open our minds to the opportunities and value of our diverse society. These are articulated in the District Principles for Ethical and Responsible Behavior established through a community dialogue in 2003. We know that respectful interpersonal behaviors are essential for the perpetuation of our democratic and free way of life and that they are reinforced through positive student engagement with the community.

This year our students throughout the District responded to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, raising money and finding donated goods to help those left homeless. Woodside Elementary School has involved itself in the local Hunger Prevention programs, providing support for those in need closer to home.

Our high school students are serving as tutors and mentors to younger students, and both the high school and middle school have active student civil rights teams.

Students have also been engaged in the work of the school system. We have student representatives on the Board of Directors, on the School-Based Health Center Advisory Committee, on the District Wellness Team, on the Sports Done Right Steering Committee and other efforts as well.

We have spent this year engaged in a serious look at the Sports Done Right principles that have been generated by the University of Maine. The Sports Done Right initiative has outlined guiding principles for inter-scholastic athletic programs that promote healthy and positive approaches to competitive sports for coaches, parents, and students. A steering committee has met with athletes and coaches, and has surveyed parents in its effort to learn how these principles align with and can support and enhance our interscholastic program.

All District elementary schools use the Responsive Classroom approach to teach students how to interact with one another in positive and constructive ways. Similarly, the All-Stars Program and the Camp Kieve experience at the middle school reinforces the elementary effort. We are currently looking at how we can make these efforts more cohesive and effective.