Spending a lot of time in Augusta dealing with policies and procedures, Beardsley prefers being out in the field to find out first-hand what is happening in education and what superintendents, principals and teachers need to be current in education for the state and to compete nationally. Earlier in the day he met with superintendents and administrators in northern Maine to discuss their issues and challenges in education today.
“I want to know what is working and what is not,” he said.
Prior to visiting classrooms, Beardsley participated in a round table discussion with Lori Soucy, kindergarten teacher; Tara Austin and Sarah Estabrook, first-grade teachers; Sally Cole, literacy specialist; Janet Murakami, literacy coach; Dawn Jandreau, University of Maine literacy coach; Principal Crane and Ellen Schneider, RSU 29 superintendent.
In 2006, RSU 29 was awarded a five-year, $1million “Reading First” grant. To qualify for the grant, a school needed to have 61 percent or less of their students meet or exceed the standard on the language arts section of the Maine Educational Assessment. At that time, only 47 percent of RSU 29 fourth-graders met or exceeded the standard.
The district and the elementary staff became committed to improve the reading instruction by participating in this five-year grant.
Veteran teacher, Tara Austin said that at that time most teachers were shifting from a whole language philosophy, which incorporated phonics with classroom trade books and creative writing to a more structured and concrete approach to reading.
“Being retrained in new ways of teaching was overwhelming and very challenging, but we did our best. We worked as a team and we persevered,” she said. “The test scores indicate the positive results of this initiative,” Austin said.
This program takes a lot of organization. All specials such as music, phys. ed., computer and library must be scheduled at other times during the day because the literacy framework provides a 90-minute uninterrupted block which includes: whole group instruction, small group differentiated reading instruction, independent work stations, one-to-one teacher student conferencing and in-classroom tutorial help by ed. tech support staff.
Support personnel is also a key to the success of this program. Ed. techs are kept informed of the progression of skills being taught and with assessments in place can provide an intervention plan to help provide for students who are having difficulty. They also assess student achievement by using the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) program to monitor students’ achievement every two weeks. Teachers and support staff meet at the beginning of the year to look at student scores and determine the needs for early intervention. Then every eight weeks the scores are re-evaluated and students who have successfully improved are moved out of the program or put on monitor and others are moved in for more intense work on phonics, fluency and comprehension.
Since the initiative, the RSU 29 scores have improved: When the program began in 2006-07 ‚Ä“ 47 percent of the students met or exceeded the standard. In 2014 using NECAP scores 77.7 percent met or exceeded the standard and in 2015 using Smarter Balance grades 3-5 were above the state average. In 2006-07 using DIBELS, 51 percent of the students were at or above benchmark and now in 2015, 70 percent are at or above benchmark.
Murakami, literacy coach said, “In order to keep this program going there needs to be consistency and leadership. We have been fortunate to have the support of Lee Ann Larson, Maine Department of Education literacy specialist, the Maine Partnership in Comprehensive Literacy at the University of Maine Orono.” “We have also been supported by our own administration, school board and community,” said Marakami.
Another important key to the program is having a literacy specialist and a literacy coach on the staff. The grant provided five years of resources and since then the district has continued to seek other avenues of funding to support these two positions.
Dawn Jandreau, University of Maine literacy coach said, “Houlton has succeeded with this program because of the strong commitment from the district and the teachers. Once the initial grant money ended, the district continued to keep the coaching positions and support needed for a cohesive program. This is key, as I have seen the same program fall by the wayside in other districts because of the lack of support by administration.”
Most often school districts demonstrating higher test scores reflects the socio-economic status. RSU 29 is identified as the 15th lowest in the state for cost per pupil, yet scores now show the gap between income and success rate has been bridged.
The district went from 53 percent on free or reduced lunch to 77 percent, but still the scores have improved.
Superintendent Schneider said, “The components of this program are winning components. A district needs money to get it going. There needs to be consistency with emphasis on professional development on site and in depth. There must be commitment and follow-up.”
“RSU 29 now has a literacy model centered around a solid core program, ‘Reading Street’, professional development and Best Instructional Practices, data and how we collect, analyse and apply it back to the classroom to close the gap,” said Schneider.
The group echoed these words to Commissioner Beardsley: “If you want change to happen, teachers need to be given time to do it, money for resources and professional development. There needs to be structure within the grade-levels, a lot of collaborative work and the staff needs to be committed to it.”
Beardsley addressed an important question to the group before leaving. “Are the new teachers coming into the field prepared with this background?”
The response was “no” and that is why it is so important to have the coaching and mentors that this district has in place. The teachers participating in this discussion all agreed that classes at the college level need to change to meet today’s education needs. Teachers need to come into the schools with skills to be a successful teacher just like students are trained to go into the world of technology or business. This is a major concern since there are several teacher that may be retiring within the next five years and to keep this program cohesive there needs to be qualified replacements.
Soucy, a new teacher in the district, appreciates the support she has been given by her mentor and coach. With this support she feels she is more able to provide her kindergarten students with a solid foundation to become life-long learners.
As Beardsley worked his way through some of the classrooms and interacted with students he noticed how engaged the students were and was also impressed with their verbal skills explaining their task at hand. Joining Beardsley for the tour was his wife Betsy, who is a retired educator and former principal.
Beardsley previously served as commissioner for the Department of Conservation. He served as president and CEO of Husson University for 22 years. He has served or chaired several boards including Maine Development Foundation, Finance Authority of Maine, Maine Higher Education Council, Maine Independent College Association, Maine Development Foundation and others. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Earlham College in Indiana and his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. He also completed the Harvard Institute for Educational Management Program.
