By Victoria Wallack

The number of schools that didn’t make the grade in reading and math under No Child Left Behind has risen for the third year in a row, from 120 in the 2002-2003 school year to 148 last year.

A little over a third of those schools missed the mark based on test scores for all students, while the majority were for subgroups, largely economically disadvantaged kids or students with disabilities. The rankings are based on improvements in standardized test scores given in grades 4,8 and 11.

Starting this year, all 11th-graders will be required to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT instead of a local assessment, the state Department of Education announced last Thursday.

Statewide, 44 high schools, 35 middle-schools and 21 elementary schools were singled out for failing to make adequate improvement for the first time this year. In a more serious category, 23 high schools, 24 middle schools and one elementary school were cited for not making enough progress for the last two or three years.

Waterboro was the only district in the state to be cited for continuous improvement problems at all three grade levels tested.

Under the federal law, schools that fail to meet standards three years in a row have to allow students to go to another school in the district if they choose – an unlikely option in many parts of Maine.

The same day the No Child Left Behind rankings were released, the state Department of Education also announced it was changing the qualifying test for 11th-graders, from a homegrown assessment – the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) – to the nationally recognized SAT.

The change in tests was not designed to make it any easier on students, but rather to give teachers a break, according to Sen. Libby Mitchell, D-Kennebec, chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee.

“The timing is an unfortunate coincidence,” Mitchell said of the announcements last Thursday. The goal was to reduce the amount of time teachers have to spend giving and helping create the standardized tests, which for grades four and eight will remain the MEA.

The Department of Education said 75 percent of Maine high school students already take the SATs, so the state could build on that existing base and encourage more 11th-graders to think about college. SATs are generally required for college admission.

“I honestly don’t believe it is backing away from accountability,” Mitchell said. “Rather it’s accomplishing two things at once,” she said.

Sen. Karl Turner, R-Cumberland, a member of the Education Committee, agreed.

“I’m supportive of the move,” Turner said. “We already have a very significant percentage of 11th-graders taking the SAT. This allows us to use something, which I think is a good proxy for the MEA.”

Not only will it save a school day – SATs are given on Saturday – it also is vetted nationally. “You substitute a test that’s nationally recognized,” Turner said.

Mitchell said the SATs are tough. “It’s not the SAT many parents think about,” she said.

“There’s no desire on our part to lower the standards,” Mitchell said. “If the committee determines that it is, I don’t believe it will be accepted.

The MEAs and now the SAT figure into No Child Left Behind because the federal law requires each school to show improvement each year based on the number of students who meet or exceed standards on a test. States are allowed to choose the test, and Maine’s MEA is considered a difficult one. Adequate yearly progress is based on the whole school and the sub-group test scores. The federal law also requires 95 percent participation.

In the first year of reporting on No Child Left Behind, schools failed because not enough kids took the test. This past year the participation rate was more than 99 percent.