AUGUSTA — It's every student's nightmare. He or she receives a report card and there's a big F on it. "How am I going to explain this?" Well, the shoe fell on the other foot this week, thanks to Gov. Paul LePage. Six hundred schools across Maine received grades on Monday and the state is posting them today, May 1, on the Department of Education's website. Schools can receive a grade of A to F depending on grading criteria set by the state.

Superintendent Elaine Nutter, who watches over the Camden-Rockport kindergarten-eighth-grade schools, as well as Camden Hills Regional High School, said her school systems received notification of their grades April 30. You can see the grades on their website, along with a letter from Nutter offering a short explanation of the grades and the administration's point of view [her letter is also posted with the grade attachments]. Camden-Rockport Elementary School received a  B grade; Camden Rockport Middle School, an A; and Camden Hills Regional High School, a B.

There are two separate grading systems, one for elementary and middle schools and one for high schools. Middle and elementary school grades were based on two factors: the school's passing grades from state reading and math tests and how much students improved their scores from last year. High school grading used similar criteria, except graduation rates were also a factor.

Today, the state Department of Education and the governor will host a news conference to launch a database where the public can search all the school grades in the state.

"I'm fine with the grade," Nutter said. "Even if I wasn',t I would say that regardless of what the grade is. It's still one measure of where these students are. It's a test that was given to the elementary students in October, so it's a point in time, a snapshot of where the students are. For the high school, it's based on SATs and they are looked at over multiple years. It's all information we have been looking at, but I think that since it's limited to those measures it's a very narrow vision of what our education is. Regardless of any school it's a moment of time of where the students are and the education in the school systems are much more complex than that and experiences that students have every day are much broader than what is captured in the score."

Nutter said, "We have an excellent graduation rate. It is more stable over time partly because of the number of students we have, but it's also the work that has been done to keep kids engaged in school. Our four-year rate was well over 94 percent, which is an excellent rate. I feel badly for high schools that have fewer students, because if you have 20 students and just one drops out, that makes it a higher percentage, so there can be greater variations in smaller high schools. One student can be a five percent difference right there."

LePage outlined his intent of using the grading system in his sSate of the State address in February. He immediately drew criticism from not only members of the DOE, but from legislators, as well.

A big opponent to the grading system is Connie Brown, executive director of the Maine School Boards Association and the Maine School Management Association. She said it is a punitive approach to shame schools and said the system does not take into account other programs. She has labeled the grading system narrow and not straightforward.

"I think that using the grading system is incompatible with what we know about how to assess students," said Nutter. "We are moving toward a proficiency based standard. The diploma is based on standards that are well known to them and they work on what the objective is to them all the time. This system [used for grading], we just learned yesterday what their criteria was going to be. In the system that we educate children in, we give them upfront what the goal of the lesson is, what the objective is and then we give them an opportunity over time. Another issue is that the grade was assigned by rank ordering the schools, so that the top schools would get an A and the lower schools would get an F. We understand from the commissioner this does not mean a school is failing. I think in the general population though it would be hard to imagine that that's not going to be what people think even though that's not its stated intent.

"That process where you assign rank and order is really called grading on a curve. That system, as far as I know, was used in the 1960s as an innovative measure then and has long since been discarded by most schools as an arbitrary and changeable grading system. It's ironic that the system being used that is meant to simplify what is really a complex issue for public understanding in a way is in opposition to a school that is working towards standards. Einstein said in effect that you should make a complex issue as simple as you can, but not simpler and this to me is simpler to me then it can be to give an accurate picture.

"Our overall feeling is that the communities, schools and the students strive for excellence. We know that the way for grade schools to get even better is having an attitude of continual review and improvement. That's an internal driving force that's at work in schools. It's nice in terms of affirmation to get external recognition that you're nearing your target, but it's not going to inherently change what we do.

"We have identified goals for our district that are multi year goals and one of the challenges is to maintain focus on those goals and when something like this grading system comes at a time when other things are really important and on the plate like budgets and the MLTI project it makes it increasingly difficult for schools to maintain the focus they need on their individual goals and objectives. I think we can do that, but it means keeping things in perspective and not getting detracted from the goals we have identified locally and are committed to locally through board approval and staff commitment."

The grades were given on a school by school basis. For example, CRMS received an A, but if all the middle schools under the Five Towns system were averaged in, the grade would have been a C. The letter grade plan is the latest initiative launched by the governor, who has been sharply critical of public school systems since entering office.

Reach Chris Wolf at news@penbaypilot.com.