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Report: Poverty Creating Achievement Gap for Maine Students

Tom Porter
/
MPBN

A business-led education advocacy organization is warning policymakers and educational professionals about the difficulties faced by students from low-income backgrounds.

A newly released report highlights the growing "achievement gap," where low-income children are falling behind their counterparts when it comes to meeting standards in reading and math.

Educate Maine has released its third statewide snapshot of Maine's education pipeline, from early childhood through college.

The report, called Education Indicators for Maine, shows progress in some key areas, such as increased access to early education and better high school graduation rates. But it raises concerns over the achievement gap faced by students from lower-income families.

Jennifer Dorman is Maine's 2015 teacher of the year. She teaches at Skowhegan Middle School, where she says about 75 percent of students qualify for free or reduced school lunches, compared with a statewide average of just under 50 percent.

The data in this report, she says, suggest poverty is taking a real toll on student achievement.

"Thirty-eight percent of students are proficient in reading," Dorman says. "But when you look at students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch, only 28 percent are proficient in reading."

The gap in math scores is even more significant, with only 24 percent of low-income students reaching proficiency, compared with an average of 40 percent.

Dorman says teachers can't close this gap on their own — they need a wide range of outside support.

"Today's students are coming in with diverse needs, they're coming in need of mental health services, they're coming in need of health care services and if schools are going to stand a chance at addressing that academic achievement gap, they need to meet the needs of the whole child," she says.

Another shortcoming highlighted in the report is the low percentage of Maine high schoolers who go on to earn a college degree. Educate Maine board chair Ron Bancroft says the figure is just 30 percent.

"Think about that, 100 students start in high school in Maine and only 30 will graduate with a 2- or 4-year degree," he says.

And this, Bancroft says, comes at a time when most new jobs are going require more postsecondary education.

Editor's note: Ron Bancroft is the vice chairman of MPBN's board of trustees.