Bangor’s 2013-2014 grade 5 and 8 students outperformed their peers from across the state on the Maine Educational Science Assessment, administered to all grade 5 and 8 Maine public school students each spring. Grade 5 measures students’ understanding in living environment and physical setting, and the grade 8 assessment measures students’ understanding in space/earth, living environment, matter/energy/forces, and physical setting.

Student performance on the Maine Educational Science Assessment is reported in achievement levels: Level 4 is Proficient with Distinction, Level 3 is Proficient, Level 2 is Partially Proficient, and Level 1 is Substantially Below Proficient. The level to which Bangor students outscored the State is statistically significant; the percentage scoring Proficient or Proficient with Distinction is 79% for Bangor students compared to only 63% of students across the state.  Similarly in grade 8, 81% of Bangor students scored Proficient or Proficient with Distinction compared to only 73% of eighth graders across the state.

Even more significant is the State’s report on the performance of economically disadvantaged students. Sixty-seven percent of Bangor’s economically disadvantaged students scored Proficient or Proficient with Distinction compared to only 51% of economically disadvantaged students state-wide. In Grade 8, 69% of Bangor students scored Proficient or Proficient with Distinction compared to 61% of students state-wide. “The fact that Bangor’s economically disadvantaged students scored higher than their peers state-wide reflects the Bangor School Department’s vision that a high quality education is attainable by all of our students,” said Dr. Betsy Webb, Superintendent of Schools.

Bangor’s outstanding performance on the MEA reflects the quality of instruction provided by Bangor faculty, the skills of Bangor students to demonstrate their understanding of science on a measure of this design, and the culture in our schools of high expectations.