Pay no attention to the reams of education assessment dataover the past 15 years showing that Maine’s K-12 public schools are failing to teach the basics.
It was all a big mistake, a tragic misunderstanding, a failure to communicate.
What a relief!
The “new and improved” data from the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) show that our public schools in Maine are doing an outstanding job preparing the next generation of Mainers for meaningful careers and good citizenship.
And if you don’t believe it — just take a look at the new test results posted on the MDOE’s assessments dashboard. It’s remarkable!
Magically, almost overnight, Maine’s K-12 public schools skyrocketed from fewer than 40% of students proficient in the basics — reading, math, science — to upwards of 80% at or above grade-level expectations!
That mega-boost in performance was made possible by Pender Makin, our brilliant Commissioner of Education in Augusta.
She decided to scrap the old assessment tests that consistently yielded dismal, even embarrassing results.
Frankly, I’m surprised it took so long for someone to figure out that Maine needed to transition to a new assessment test.
Presto!
Just like that, the new and improved tests generated new and improved test scores. As in Garrison Keillor’s fictional small town of Lake Wobegon, all the children are now above average.
OK, enough of the sarcasm.
Gov. Janet Mills and her stooge Pender Makin have accelerated the transformation of Maine’s K-12 government-run schools into left-wing indoctrination camps and gender dysphoria incubators.
Graduates may not know much of anything about the U.S. Constitution or how to make change for a five — but they know all about George Floyd and how to pick their pronouns!
MDOE’s abrupt transition to a new testing regime — yielding happy-face results — is a brazen whitewash that insults the intelligence of parents and taxpayers.
But it’s even worse than that: Makin shut down access to the pre-2021 data on the MDOE website. The dismal data disappeared without a trace!
In a way, this is good news. Makin’s stunt is a clumsy admission of failure that won’t fool anyone who’s paying even minimal attention!
Here’s what you can do to blow the whistle on this deception.
Call commissioner Makin and insist that she restore public access to the pre-2021 assessment data…
…She can be reached at 207-624-6620.
It should be obvious to anyone with an IQ above room temperature that lowering the hurdles doesn’t mean you jumped higher.
Let’s call this what it is: fraud and malpractice on a grand scale.
For decades, Maine taxpayers have poured good money after bad into a broken education system with diminishing results.
Swamp Queen Janet Mills and her Indoctrinator-in-Chief Pender Makin want you to forget about that decades-long slide into mediocrity. They think they can erase and re-write the education establishment’s sorry history of failure with a couple of keystrokes.
(Nine years ago, during my first term in the House, I wrote about the celebration of mediocrity in Maine’s public schools, triggering several GOP legislators to lash out with a silly ad hominem attack!)
Please call Makin’s office today and politely insist that she restore public access to Maine’s pre-2021 education assessment data.
Those pesky swamp critters are always trying to get away with something. Thanks for standing with the team at Maine First Project as we hold them accountable!
Sincerely,
Hon. Lawrence Lockman
Maine House of Representatives, 2012-2020
Co-Founder & President
Maine First Project
PS –
Swamp Queen Janet Mills and her Indoctrinator-in-Chief Pender Makin are trying to erase all the embarrassing data — dating back to 2007 — showing that most Maine students in K-12 government-run schools are below grade-level expectations in reading, math, and science.
Call Commissioner of Education Makin TODAY and insist she restore public access to the pre-2021 assessment data…
…She can be reached at 207-624-6620.
And if you’re able, consider chipping in with a gift to Maine First Project, so we can continue shining a bright light into the darkest corners of the swamp in Augusta — places where others don’t dare to tread, for fear of the backlash from the swamp critters and their allies in the Fake News media.