In the News - Sept. 22, 2011
New BHS test results show improvement
Biddeford High School test scores improved after they were recalculated to include all juniors who were tested.
Assistant Superintendent Jeff Porter said the scores for 107 students were not included in High School Assessment results because students were incorrectly coded as home-schooled in the school computer system.
The testing company, Measured Progress, recalculated the scores to include all 214 students who were tested.
Porter said test results show 36 percent proficiency in reading, 34 percent proficiency in math, 33 percent proficiency in writing and 29 percent proficiency in science.
Those scores are down slightly from the previous year when students showed 39 percent proficiency in reading, 37 percent proficiency in math, 39 percent proficiency in writing and 34 percent proficiency in math, Porter said.
Porter said he feels budget cuts are a factor in the school’s lower test scores. He said test scores improve as per pupil expenditures increase. He said there are fewer math, science and English teachers, which has led to classes of 29 to 30 students at the high school.
“We have had a lot of cuts in staffing and it’s impacted the entire district,” he said. “We’re losing staff. When you lose staff, you lose services. There’s a direct correlation.”
Timber Point nears fundraising goal
The 97-acre parcel of land in Biddeford known as Timber Point is closer to becoming part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, according to the director of the Maine office of The Trust for Public Land.
Wolfe Tone said the trust and Kennebunkport Land Trust need to raise about $200,000 to buy the land from the Ewing family. A Sept. 15 deadline to raise a total of $1.6 million was extended to Sept. 30 by family members.
The $1.4 million raised privately to date for the $5.2 million purchase includes donations from about 500 people and organizations. Included in the donations is $25,000 contributed last week by the Kennebunk Land Trust, Tone said.
The Timber Point property, located at the end of Granite Point Road across from Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, also includes a 13-acre island. The family would retain ownership of 13 acres of the property.
Tone said Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and volunteers from Biddeford Pool and Goose Rocks Beach have assisted the land trusts in fundraising efforts.
The groups have raised about $1.4 million since early July. Tone said the commitment to the project already exhibited makes him confident others will step forward.
“It has been absolutely extraordinary, a testament to the project and volunteers. Now we are looking for donors who want to say they were in the last part to get it done,” he said.
Biddeford High School test scores improved after they were recalculated to include all juniors who were tested.
Assistant Superintendent Jeff Porter said the scores for 107 students were not included in High School Assessment results because students were incorrectly coded as home-schooled in the school computer system.
The testing company, Measured Progress, recalculated the scores to include all 214 students who were tested.
Porter said test results show 36 percent proficiency in reading, 34 percent proficiency in math, 33 percent proficiency in writing and 29 percent proficiency in science.
Those scores are down slightly from the previous year when students showed 39 percent proficiency in reading, 37 percent proficiency in math, 39 percent proficiency in writing and 34 percent proficiency in math, Porter said.
Porter said he feels budget cuts are a factor in the school’s lower test scores. He said test scores improve as per pupil expenditures increase. He said there are fewer math, science and English teachers, which has led to classes of 29 to 30 students at the high school.
“We have had a lot of cuts in staffing and it’s impacted the entire district,” he said. “We’re losing staff. When you lose staff, you lose services. There’s a direct correlation.”
Timber Point nears fundraising goal
The 97-acre parcel of land in Biddeford known as Timber Point is closer to becoming part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, according to the director of the Maine office of The Trust for Public Land.
Wolfe Tone said the trust and Kennebunkport Land Trust need to raise about $200,000 to buy the land from the Ewing family. A Sept. 15 deadline to raise a total of $1.6 million was extended to Sept. 30 by family members.
The $1.4 million raised privately to date for the $5.2 million purchase includes donations from about 500 people and organizations. Included in the donations is $25,000 contributed last week by the Kennebunk Land Trust, Tone said.
The Timber Point property, located at the end of Granite Point Road across from Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, also includes a 13-acre island. The family would retain ownership of 13 acres of the property.
Tone said Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and volunteers from Biddeford Pool and Goose Rocks Beach have assisted the land trusts in fundraising efforts.
The groups have raised about $1.4 million since early July. Tone said the commitment to the project already exhibited makes him confident others will step forward.
“It has been absolutely extraordinary, a testament to the project and volunteers. Now we are looking for donors who want to say they were in the last part to get it done,” he said.
Comments