BETHEL — SAD 44 officials are ready to start making changes to improve student learning in the wake of letter grades given to all public schools last week by the Maine Department of Education.

Telstar Regional High School in Bethel and Andover Elementary School received Fs. Crescent Park Elementary School in Bethel, Woodstock Elementary School and Telstar Middle School in Bethel received Cs.

Superintendent David Murphy said all schools that received Cs were very close to earning Bs.

The department introduced the Maine School Performance Grading System so students, parents, taxpayers and others could easily understand how their schools are doing, according to its website. The A-F grading system is based on several factors, including student achievement in reading and math, growth/progress in achievement, and, in particular, the performance and growth of the bottom 25 percent of students for elementary schools and the graduation rate for high schools, the website said.

Murphy said he objected to the grade given to Andover because so few students took the test that was a large part of the resulting grade.

However, board member Lynn Arizzi of Bethel, who is on the district’s Education Committee, said the committee has been looking at possible educational difficulties at the high school for several months.

“We were among the lowest scoring schools in math and we’ve been going down for sometime,” she said. “We’re searching for the reasons for these results.”

The district plans to implement “data mining,” which entails, among other things, looking at particular test questions that are incorrectly answered and checking when that standard was taught.

Murphy began visits to each of the schools Wednesday to talk with staff about the grades given by the state.

During the summer, staff and administration will begin diagnosing any problems that may be hindering successful learning.

“Data mining is the single most important thing to do,” he said.

The district’s goal is to implement mass customized learning, which is a strategy that allows students to learn at their own pace, will also help students improve learning, he said.

“Students need to have a voice in their own education. They need positive reinforcement to do their best,” Murphy said.

Board member Roberta Taylor said the state is headed toward a standards-based curriculum.

“Mining data is so important. Not just teaching to the test but to the standards,” she said.

Murphy said the Staff Development Committee will help develop mass customized learning, and build curriculum around those standards.

He said he read that poor school districts were penalized.

“It’s most important for us to find reasons why (the schools received low grades). These tests do mean something,” he said. “We are taking these results very seriously, remembering that it is just one piece.”

Board member Tim Carter of Bethel suggested that offering preschool classes could benefit students by giving everyone an even start, while board member Marcel Polak of Woodstock and others questioned the school culture.

Board member Frank Del Duca of Bethel said problems with student achievement took a long time to develop, and could take a long time to resolve.

“I want to expedite the solution. Kids apparently aren’t getting what they come to school to get,” he said.

Murphy said review of data and work to improve student achievement will be studied and implementation would be ongoing.