AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s education policies rank a bit above average when matched up against the rest of the country.
According to Quality Counts 2009, the annual ranking conducted by researchers for the newspaper Education Week, Maine earned a C+ compared to the national C average. The results of Quality Counts 2009 were released Wednesday.
Quality Counts is the 13th edition of Education Week’s series of annual report cards tracking state education policies and outcomes. The report offers a comprehensive state-by-state analysis of key indicators of student success.
The research is conducted annually by Editorial Projects in Education, a nonprofit organization based in Bethesda, Md., and dedicated to raising the level of awareness and understanding among professionals and the public of important issues in American education. EPE compiles its results from a wide range of data.
The C+ ranking meant that Maine came in 21st when stacked up against the other 49 states, although it was behind the other five New England states.
Massachusetts, which was ranked first, was the only state to be given an A. Connecticut ranked third, New Hampshire ranked fourth, Vermont was seventh and Rhode Island finished 20th, one step above Maine.
David Connerty-Marin, department of education communications director, accepted the findings but also pointed out that Maine fared much better than the other states in the area of providing students with a chance for success, their transition into the work force and state funding of education. Each of those areas received at least a grade of B-.
“You can look at one set of factors and find things that you like and also things that you dislike,” Connerty-Marin said Wednesday. “Luckily Maine has a lot of areas where we are well ahead of the average. When you look overall, you see a continuous pattern of Maine exceeding the other states in many areas. But we are never complacent. We want improvement in all areas.”
A state’s overall grade is the average of the scores for six graded categories. States are graded on a student’s chance for success, transitions and alignments, school finance, kindergarten through grade 12 achievement, standards and assessments and the teaching profession.
Maine received a B- and ranked 21st in chance for success, compared to the state average of C+. The Chance for Success Index combines information from 13 indicators intended to offer perspective on the role that education plays as a person moves from childhood and into the work force.
The state received a B- and ranked 10th in transitions and alignments, compared to the average of C. Transitions and Alignment tracks the states on how well it smoothes the transition through the educational pipeline, including early childhood education through college readiness and the work force.
The state received a B+ and ranked 7th in school finance, compared to the average of C+. School finance analyzes school spending patterns and how equitably that funding is distributed among districts within the state. The state spends $12,985 per pupil compared to $9,963 spent nationally.
The state received a C and ranked 10th for kindergarten through grade 12 achievement, compared to the average D+. Achievement measures 18 distinct categories related to mathematics, reading and high school graduation rates. It also places an emphasis on equity, by examining both poverty-based achievement gaps and progress in closing those gaps.
It received a C+ and ranked 41st for standards, assessments and accountability, compared to the average B. Standards and Assessments grade the state for its curriculum and testing programs.
Maine received a D and ranked 43rd for its teaching profession, compared to the national average C. Teaching profession measures accountability for quality, incentives, resource allocation and building and supporting capacity. The state ranked low in this category mainly because it fails to provide a wide range of alternative financial incentives for its teachers.
Quality Counts 2009 placed special focus of its research on the 5 million American students using English as a second language. Teaching these English Language Learners, or ELLs, has created challenges as that segment of the population continues to grow. Nationwide, the number of ELLs grew by 57 percent in the past decade. Maine has about 3,000 ELLs, 45 percent of whom failed to make progress toward English language proficiency, according to the report.