Schools in Maine ??? (Portland, South Portland, Scarborough: real estate, home, elementary school)

[Zipperhead]

Hi .......posting here for some general information regarding elementary school ratings for the Portland area. That including towns like Gorham, Windham, Westbrook, South Portland, etc.
I'm reading on greatschools.net .....that test scores are very low in most catergories and I was hoping someone with elementary school age children could help me out with things.
I can't understand how Maine (with a ranking of #6 in the entire nation - for smartest states) ... could have MEA scores this low.

Again .....hoping some parent who currently has children in the public school systems or someone who has graduated kids from those areas could help me out with this question.

Thanks,

[mainenative]

For Public schools in the Portland area, Falmouth, Cumberland, and Yarmouth are prize winning top notch, This is very well known in the greater portland area. Real estate agents usually use The excellent school system rating as a selling tool because it is so important to parents such as yourself.

[bobkemp]

That is about the only area where I would allow my kids to go do not go into piscataquis county they dont do background checks on teachers my sone got a child molestor for a teacher she molested 14 children total and they allowed her to continue teaching for the rest of that year, She is still teaching right today.

Robert

[tkx7]

MEA scores dont really mean anything- they are just run by the state so you cant compare them to other states- also, since they dont mean anything students usually dont try on them so the scores are just misleading.
The MEA standards are very high too, so alot of schools get only "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" approval ratings. The school systems you mentioned are all fine, Gorham has great schools. Windham and South Portland are probably average compared to other Maine schools. But I think an average school in Maine is generally good.

[Unhappycamper]

About the MEAs...

I took those three years ago in my senior year. We knew those do not go on our transcripts in anyway or ever effect us in the future so we did not care about them. Most of just randomly guessed answers we did not know off the bat. Some people just chose multiple choice answers at random. I answered alot without even reading the question. After the 3rd day of doing those tests no one cared anymore. most everyone just winged the essay without caring about detail or grammer. We just wanted to not be taking the tests. Its not that were are dumb, we just don't give a crap about MEAs.

[BooWill]

My students don't take their tests too seriously. The older they are, the more likely they are to fart around with the scores. I think there is definitely a decreased motivation in rural kids to succeed academically unless the right teachers can get a fire lit. Where I live, they make more money lobstering than I make as their teacher!

[ACN]

I recomend Longfellow k-5 for Portland, we had an excellent experience. Thumbs up also for Breakwater (private k-5)
You could never go wrong with any of the schools in either Falmouth, Yarmouth, Cumberland or Scarborough.

[Sapphyre_83]

I was born and raised in Maine and I've been to two different high schools and was even home schooled for a year. I had a couple teachers who taught spelling who didn't even spell the words right on the lists they gave out to the students (4th-5th grade). Kids get bored when they know more than the teachers do. However, we had music classes right from KG and art class starting in 3rd grade. We went on a lot of field trips and extracurricular activities were always available. Regarding the MEAs, the teachers never got around to teaching us everything that was on the tests, and instructed us to make the best guess. It's true, no one really cared about them, so there wasn't any motivation for the students to really try. What bothers me most about Maine (if you're thinking of moving there), is that a great percentage of people who live there have mediocre jobs, and don't have any desire or motivation to do better for themselves or their family. They raise their kids in Maine, the kids go to the same school they went to, the kids go to the same college they went to (or don't go at all), and do the same thing all over again- have kids while still in high school, get married, and so on. I had to get out of there.

[tkx7]

Originally Posted by Unhappycamper

About the MEAs...

I took those three years ago in my senior year.

I remember taking the MEAs as a junior. I think it was for juniors not seniors.

[Unhappycamper]

Originally Posted by tkx7

I remember taking the MEAs as a junior. I think it was for juniors not seniors.

Yeah, you are right. Maybe I should payed more attention to those.