WESTBROOK – Stung by two D grades from the Maine Department of Education, Westbrook school officials are characterizing the report card as an incomplete representation of the community.

“The intent behind this is good, and they’re looking at the right things,” Peter Lancia, Westbrook’s director of teaching and learning, said Tuesday, referring to the grading system’s methodology that looks at growth from one school year to the next. “(But) it doesn’t take into account the uniqueness of different populations within each community, and that’s the hard part.”

Lancia said the test doesn’t look at socioeconomic, cultural or demographic factors, which he says “doesn’t work as well. It doesn’t give the right information.”

Saccarappa and Canal elementary schools received D grades. Westbrook High School, the middle school and Congin Elementary received C scores, which is the average throughout the state.

According to the Department of Education, elementary and middle-level calculations are based on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) or the Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP). For high schools, calculations are based on the Maine High School Assessment, the PAAP test, and the most recent graduation rates.

According to Lancia, schools with similar demographics of Saccarappa and Canal, with a large population of English language learners and free and reduced lunch-eligible students, scored similarly, some with failing grades.

“A quarter of our kids speak a language other than English at home,” he said. “That’s another factor that it doesn’t correct for.”

However, Superintendent Marc Gousse said he doesn’t want to minimize the test scores. He said Westbrook students are “learning and progressing. This is not about deflecting assessment, this is about making sure that the measure that we’re assessing for accountability is a true reflection of our students’ learning.”

“We need to be accountable for the right things,” Lancia said, adding that he’s interested to see how the state grading system evolves in the coming years. This is only the second year of the program, and no changes were made to the methodology.

Lancia added that through the department’s own assessments, they have seen growth within the English-language-learning population.

“We’ve had kids come in with very little English, who are ready to mainstream into classrooms, and ready to hold their own,” he said.

According to Gousse, Westbrook has the third highest English language learner population in the state.

When scores were originally announced last week, only two of Westbrook’s schools were reported, and Gousse and Lancia contacted the Department of Education about why the remaining schools were left out.

“If we had said nothing, those scores would not have been reported,” Gousse said. “We questioned and persisted.”

Last year, only Westbrook High School was graded, with a C, due to the district’s reconfiguration the year before. According to the Department of Education, it takes two years of assessment for a student’s data to be included in the calculations.

Lancia said schools with a failing grade must create a plan for corrective action, and receive a visit from a Department of Education consultant. Many of the plans include reorganizing staff, the schools, or replacing administration.

Schools with D grades are not required to take action, but, Lancia said, Westbrook has ongoing school improvement plans regardless of the state.

“We could be getting all A scores, and we’d still be moving ahead,” he said.

Lancia said Canal and Saccarappa have very active improvement plans.

“When new data comes in, the principal and their teachers might look at those and adjust, but all of our schools are focused on seeing gains,” he said.

Brian Mazjanis, principal of Saccarappa Elementary, which received a D grade, said Tuesday that there are a lot of pieces missing from the state assessment, and that a poor grade can overshadow the hard work being done by both the teachers and students of the school.

“Our students are working really hard, and for their parents to think that somehow they’re not is really an injustice,” he said.

He added that if a student comes to them behind a grade level or two, and the student makes significant growth, that student may still be scored as behind in the state assessment.

“We’re working hard to make up that difference, but it’s one test on one day,” he said.

“We have high standards for our children, and very high standards for our teachers,” Mazjanis added. “To have the state give us a D just doesn’t feel right. We’re not a D school.”

Mazjanis said the school department’s summer school program, known as Summer Focus, has already grown from last year.

“The important thing here is that these children applied for this program,” he said. “This isn’t punitive. It’s so that kids continue their learning throughout the summer time, when they might fall back a little bit.”

The school already has 150 students registered for the program pre-K-12.

In Gorham, schools fared a bit better, with Narragansett Elementary receiving an A, Great Falls Elementary and Gorham High School earning a B, and Gorham Middle School and Village Elementary receiving a C.

Ted Sharp, Gorham’s superintendent, reiterated a point also made by Mazjanis.

“I am not certain that any one of us would want to be judged by our performance on one day of our work year,” he said Tuesday, adding that he was pleased that Department of Education Commissioner Jim Rier visited Narragansett School “to listen to our staff share the programs and strategies that we employ to support each and every child.”

As he was leaving school Tuesday afternoon, Mazjanis said there were a number of teachers’ cars still in the parking lot.

“We dismissed kids a while ago, and these teachers are working really hard to prepare and be ready, and be innovative for the children here,” he said. “I’m really proud of that.”