MAINE
House Votes for "Learning Results"
Maine homeschoolers have been part of a coalition of groups trying to derail the "Learning Results," a bold and expensive experiment with Outcome Based Education. On May 22, 1997, the House of Representatives voted 95 to 46 in favor of the Learning Results. For all practical purposes, this means the Learning Results will now become law.
Massachusetts, which voted for similar legislation in 1993, is still attempting to expand the new Outcome Based Education testing to private schools and homeschools. Kentucky, which is several years ahead of Maine in this ambitious exercise in social engineering, has seen more and more evidence of the disasters which OBE opponents predicted from the start. According to Education Week, new "high stakes" testing (which is part of the OBE program) tempts public school teachers to cheat, in order to gain bonuses or avoid sanctions. Meanwhile, an ever-increasing number of students are "jumping ship" from the public schools to begin homeschooling.
We encourage Maine homeschoolers to keep a close eye on the progress of the Learning Results system. There is every reason to expect that it will pose some threat to homeschooling liberties over the course of the next several years. We must be prepared to pay the price of liberty: vigilance.
