SKOWHEGAN — A research team from the University of Southern Maine visited Skowhegan Area High School this week to see what makes one of Maine’s improving public high schools tick.

The team is comparing geographic locations, school size and socio-economic demographics in the state at the request of the Maine Legislature.

High school principal Rick Wilson said changes in the way students are taught are now beginning in middle school, preparing kids for high school and beyond.

“I’m happy for the staff to have someone actually recognize that you are one of five or seven schools in the state that are really moving forward quickly. To have someone else say that is really rewarding,” Wilson said. “The reason we were highlighted, what stood out to them, is that compared to other schools that have our demographics, we really have improved way faster than other schools with our rate of income and free and reduced lunch.”

School Administrative District 54 Superintendent Brent Colbry said the research team is looking at data, including SAT scores, graduation rates and state assessments of similar schools from 2006 to the present to compare kids of the same background. This summer, the researchers from the Center for Education Policy, Applied Research and Evaluation at USM will analyze the data gathered from all of the targeted schools and report their findings to the Legislature. Calls to researchers for comment were not returned.

One reason Skowhegan was identified as an improving school, Colbry said, is that some of the projects initiated at the high school in recent years have begun to produce results.

“What the data is going to show is that all these different initiatives that we’ve been undertaking are beginning to pay off in the form of higher performing kids,” Colbry said. “It’s validating the work and the energy that the staff and the principal and the school board is trying to do.”

Recent initiatives at the high school include “freshmen teaming,” begun at the start of school in 2010. Incoming freshmen are greeted by three teams of teachers, with all students grouped together in their own wing for four of their eight daily periods. The three teams have four teachers each.

The school also has initiated a literacy program to raise scores in reading, math programs have been instituted to help students who are under performing in that subject, an adviser program was established for each student and teacher groups have formed to assess student progress, Colbry said.

Wilson added that all students at the high school must now take algebra I, geometry and algebra II and each student gets the extra time needed to understand the material. He said the high school also has a popular after school program and summer school studies are aimed directly at what a student needs to know, not just what the student needs to achieve to get a passing grade.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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