Lewiston High School

Schools begin new year

The only hiccup Nagle knew of was the loss of power for about 20 minutes at Grovetown High and the new Baker Place Elementary schools.

"We're not sure why that happened, but when it did, we reported it and Georgia Power had us up and running again in no time," Nagle said.

Though buses still were delivering pupils to their homes when Nagle discussed the first day of school, he said there was nothing extraordinary to report from the morning run.

"On those first couple of days, a lot of parents will drive their students to school, so we may have to make some changes or add some routes as things calm down and we get a true picture of how many students we'll have riding the buses," Nagle said.

The same holds true for shifting teachers.

School officials have projected a pupil population this year of about 23,900. But Nagle said he and other officials likely won't have a true picture of enrollment for at least another two weeks.

In heavy-growth schools like those in the Grovetown area, Nagle said he expects to have to transfer some teachers since hiring more won't be an option this year.

During June budget discussions, the school board voted to eliminate a $950,000 contingency fee used in the past to hire more teachers at the start of the school year as growth dictated.

-- Donnie Fetter, Columbia County Bureau Chief

Richmond County schools:

As students returned to classrooms for the first day of school today, Richmond County Acting Superintendent James Whitson was walking the hallways as well.

Whitson aimed to talk to principals, staff and cafeteria workers at 10 schools to see how the first day unfolded.

"It was clear to me the principals and teachers and office staff are very busy," Whitson said. "Our teachers, our principals, they've worked real hard to make it a smooth opening."

According to the acting superintendent, the first day of school had the typical readjustment pains expected after summer break, but overall has ran smoothly so far.

-- Tracey McManus, staff writer

Richmond County schools:

As first-day-of-school kinks are ironed out, Richmond County school system officials said they have seen the recurring problem of students missing their morning buses.

It's common at the beginning of the school year, when parents aren't sure where their child's bus stop is located, said schools spokesman Louis Svehla.

Lewiston superintendent calls for change in testing policies ...

The first few months in office by Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen have been well received by most observers. He has made a concerted effort to visit schools, solicit feedback and acknowledge the concerns of many who have been frustrated by the past lack of long range planning coming out of Maine’s Department of Education . I urge the commissioner to continue this work and pursue a policy change that will greatly improve education in Maine.

He should seek a federal waiver to change the type and timing of assessment tests that we use to measure student progress and meet the requirement of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, now the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). If implemented, these changes will benefit Maine students by providing immediate feedback on student performance, enabling teachers to make timely adjustments to instructional practices, strengthening how we measure teacher effectiveness and reducing out-of-class time for testing.

Since 2008, Maine has used a test called the New England Common Assessment Program to measure student progress in mathematics and reading in grades 3 through 8. The Maine Educational Assessment is used to assess science in grades 5 and 8. These tests are designed to measure whether a student is proficient in the subject material and to categorize schools as meeting or not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress in academic success.

Unfortunately, the tests do not tell us the actual proficiency level at which a student is functioning, nor do they provide guidance to teachers on how to adapt instructional practices to better meet student needs. Furthermore, the New England assessment is administered in October, long after the applicable school year has been completed, and the results are only available several months later.

The deficiencies of these tests might be demonstrated best by using an example from the private sector. Let us say you start a new job that might take a year or two to fully master. On your first day you learn that you will be evaluated in one week using performance standards based upon full mastery of all skills needed in your new position. You probably would not have a positive evaluation even though you might be improving greatly with each additional day on the job. If, on the other hand, you were assessed based upon your growth or movement toward the performance standards, your evaluation might be outstanding.

We further compound the system deficiencies in our example, however, by giving you your one-week evaluation six months after the fact. This means that you would have worked another six months without knowing which areas you were doing well and those in need of improvement. This would not be a very effective evaluation system for the private sector nor are the New England and Maine tests good assessment tools to benefit Maine students.

Education in Maine, report

Report of the Commissioner of Education made to the Secretary of the Interior for the year ..., with accompanying papers

Report of the Commissioner of Education

Annual report

Report of the Federal Security Agency, Office of Education