The Wescott Junior High School has met the standards for the Federal No Child Left Behind Act, after failing to meet those standards for two years.

The standard is based on student scores on the Maine Educational Assessment tests that were given to students in fourth, eighth and 11th grades this March.

Last year, Wescott was placed on the “Continuous Improvement Priority School” list for failing to meet the standards for two years in a row. Since schools must meet the standards for two consecutive years before they are taken off the list, Wescott must meet the standards again next year before it can be removed.

While the news was good at the junior high school, Westbrook High School and Congin Elementary School did not meet the standards and were placed on monitoring status for this year. Assistant Superintendent Jan Breton said there will be no penalties for those schools this year, but the schools will be looking at their curriculum and trying to find ways to boost student test scores to meet the standards next year.

In Gorham, only Gorham High School didn’t meet the No Child Left Behind standards. Karen Rumery, director of assessment and curriculum for the Gorham School Department, said Gorham High School made list because one of the subgroups idendified in the federal law – students with disabilities – failed to meet the standards.

Rumery said School Department would take a close look at the data to see what the school could do differently. “You try to do the best you can to get off the list,” she said.

If a school does not meet the standard for a second year, it is placed on the priority list. Schools on the priority list, as Wescott was last year, must inform parents and come up with a plan to bring the students up to the standards. Additionally, the state makes money and consultants available to the school to help it meet that goal.

As was the case last year with the junior high, when it was two subgroups of students, not the entire student body that failed to meet the standards, Breton said the high school and Congin were placed on the monitoring list because of the scores of students in two categories. At the high school, economically disadvantaged and special education students did not meet the standards in reading. At Congin, it was the special education students who did not meet the standards in math.

“It was exactly the same thing that happened at the junior high school last year,” she said.

While she said she wanted to see all the schools meet the standards, Breton said she was pleased with the results at the junior high school.

Wescott Principal Brian Mazjanis, who is in his first year at the school, said he was thrilled at the results and gave credit to former Principal Martha Corkery and the school’s teachers, who he said got the ball rolling on improvements at the school. “I think we’re doing some smart things with kids,” he said. “The teachers worked really hard to help the kids do well.”

The school has begun holding learning labs for students that need extra help, Mazjanis said. He said the labs were not just study halls; he likened them to an extra math or language arts class for kids that really need the help in those areas.

Mazjanis said when a school is in the situation as Wescott was last year, it has an effect on the entire staff. “I think (not meeting the standards) can have a demoralizing effect,” he said. “I’m really happy we made it this year.”

Eighth-grade math teacher Randy Kassa, who worked with other teachers and the state to help boost scores at the school, said he was also pleased with the results. “We knew we had some work to do,” he said. “We just need to keep it up now.”

Mazjanis said he believed the scores at the junior high school reflect on the entire system, not just that specific school. A student’s learning is a product of their time from kindergarten on up, and the improvement at the junior high shows the kids are getting a good education throughout the entire school system.

Kassa said with all the work the staff is doing to boost student scores at the school, Wescott would be able to keep meeting the standards. “I think we’re going to see another improvement this year,” he said.

Mazjanis agreed with Kassa, saying he believes the school is headed in the right direction. “I think we’re doing some great things here,” he said. “There’s a great mood here, being part of a school that’s on the rise.”

Wescott Junior High School Principal Brian Mazjanis (center) shows eighth grader Emily Bernardo and sixth grader Alex Bernardo a computerized testing system being used at the school. Because of an improvement in student scores, the school met federal standards under the No Child Left behind Act, one year after being placed on a priority list for schools that failed to meet those standards.