Long 1

A Contextual Factors Analysis for Mt. Blue High School

Rebecca Long
University of Maine at Farmington
EDU 460: Student Teaching
Professor Yeaton-Evans
February 9, 2022
 Long 2

One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching is forming bonds with students and

watching them grow under your guidance. However, in order to forge those relationships and

know how to best help each student, you need to understand them and where they come from.

Factors such as geographical location, socio-economic status, availability of technology, student

achievement levels, school climate, and more all need to be considered to design instruction

that is relevant and beneficial to students. Context, in this increasingly complex and shifting

world, means everything. And context is exactly what I intended to learn through this contextual

factors analysis of Mt. Blue High School and its surrounding community.

Community and District

Mt. Blue High School is located in central Farmington but accepts students from Wilton,

Industry, New Sharon, Chesterville, Starks, Temple, Weld, Vienna, and New Vineyard as well as

Farmington. This means that the school accepts students from three counties because these

ten towns are located in parts of Franklin, Kennebec, and Somerset. Across these towns, Mt.

Blue receives students from a number of different elementary schools including Academy Hill

School, Cape Cod Hill School, Cascade Brook School, G. D. Cushing School, and the W.G.

Mallett School. Of the five elementary schools in the Mt. Blue Regional School District, also

called District 9, two are located in Farmington, two in Wilton, and one in New Sharon. All five

feed into the district's one middle school, Mt. Blue Middle School, which is located in west

Farmington. In total, Mt. Blue serves ten towns that span over four hundred plus square miles

and accepts students from six different schools. However, Mt. Blue Campus also receives

students from Spruce Mountain High School, Rangeley Lakes Regional School, and Mount

Abram Regional High School at its Foster Career and Technical Education Center (Foster CTE

Center). This part of the Mt. Blue campus caters to students in the surrounding towns that would

like to learn technical skills such as forestry, law enforcement, or chemical engineering. Another

part of the Mt. Blue Campus is The Franklin County Adult and Community Education center

which accepts adult learners from all across Franklin County. Mt. Blue High School also
 Long 3

receives a large number of international students from countries all over the world (“About | Mt.

Blue RSD”).

Overall, there are students from a large variety of places, of many ages enrolled at Mt.

Blue making for a wide variety of students. However, despite the geographical disparity between

students, there is still very little diversity within the school. During the 2019-2020 school year

93.73% of students identified as White, 2.32% of students identified as Hispanic, 1.36% of

students identified as Asian, 1.23% of students identified as Black or two or more races, 0.14%

of students identified as Alaska Native, and 0% of students identified as Native Hawaiian/Pacific

Islander (“Search for Public Schools”). These numbers are typical for a school in Maine of this

size and location. They are also well below the national average which makes sense because

as of 2022 Maine is the least diverse state in the United States with 94.31% of its population

identifying as White (“Maine Population 2020”). In accordance with this lack of general

population diversity, Maine schools have the third-lowest diversity score in the country as ranked

by the public school review (“Diversity in US Public Schools”).

 Long 4

This lack of diversity in Mt. Blue and throughout the state has wide-reaching implications

on the teaching and learning students do. Mainly it means that educators have an increased

responsibility to teach about diversity because of how few students would naturally be exposed

to diverse cultures and people on their own. For White students, being introduced to different

lifestyles and perspectives is an important step in recognizing their privilege and increasing

empathy for groups adversely affected by racism, ableism, homophobia, and other forms of

hate. For students of color or those that identify in any way outside of the accepted norm,

seeing themselves represented is extremely important. Seeing yourself represented and

accepted is very important to feeling as if you are a valued part of a community and is affirming.

This need for diversity can be addressed in many ways such as choice of materials, different

activities, and topics of discussion. Overall, because of the lack of diversity in Maine and Mt.

Blue, it is essential that students are taught about different cultures and experiences than their

own.
 Long 5

Another factor that strongly affects Maine people, including the students in this school

district, is poverty rates. Maine has the eleventh highest cost of living index in the country and

ranks 21st in terms of poverty rate which is 12.9% of the population (“Cost of Living”). Meaning

that one out of every 7.8 citizens lives in poverty (“Maine Poverty Rate”). That number is even

higher for residents enrolled in school as the poverty rate of students is 17.1%. In Franklin

county, roughly 12.5% of people live in

poverty making it one of the less affected

areas of the state. Similarly, Kennebec has

a rate of 12.4%, whereas Somerset, the

other country that Mt. Blue receives

students from, has a rate of 19.5%. In

accordance with those rates, the

employment rate in Somerset is 52.9%,

eight points lower than Maine’s average of

60.3% and six points lower than the United

States average of 58.4%. The employment

rate in Kennebec is 59.5% and the

employment rate in Franklin is 57.4% both

much closer to Maine's average and the

country’s average (United States Census Bureau).

The high rates of poverty, particularly in Somerset county, and in contrast to Maine’s

average has significant ramifications on students’ learning. Foremost, students under the

poverty level could have difficulties fulfilling basic needs such as access to shelter, food, water,

power, and other necessities. When a student is not having their basic needs met, learning can

not be their priority even if they would like it to be so. Even if students were struggling to meet

even one of these needs it would significantly impact their ability to engage in school. And, in
 Long 6

my short time so far at Mt. Blue, I have already seen various students struggle with access to

power and the internet in a way that has severely affected their school life. Internet connection,

in particular, is a worry because internet access is lower than average in the areas provided to

by Mt. Blue. Seeing as how much of students’ work depends on internet access this is a

significant hurdle to their education. The wide disparity between the counties is also a

consideration because it means that some students could be notably more well off than others.

This is something I have seen very clearly already and it creates a divide in the classroom that

is hard to bridge. All in all, students who struggle financially often have considerable obstacles

to overcome or struggle with that can impede their learning in a number of ways.

In terms of populace, Farmington has the largest of the ten towns that Mt. Blue serves

with a population of 4168. The second largest is Wilton with a population of 2071 then New

Sharon with 1458, Chesterville with 1328, Industry with 788, New Vineyard with 721, Starks with

593, Vienna with 578, Temple with 527, and finally Weld with a population of only 376 people.

As for the counties these towns reside in, Franklin has a population of 29,456, Kennebec has a

population of 123,642, and Somerset has a population of 50,477 (United States Census

Bureau). Franklin county holds the majority of the towns served by Mt. Blue High School but has

the second smallest population of all the counties in Maine despite being the seventh-largest.

Overall, the majority of students who

go to Mt. Blue reside in areas with

small populations and Maine’s

population density is generally small

with only 44.49 residents per square

mile (“Population Density”). Not only

do students come from less populated

areas though, but most also come

from rural or rural fringe areas.

 Long 7

Geographically, all of the towns serviced by Mt.Blue Campus, including those tangentially

connected through the Foster CTE Center, are classified as rural. Even Farmington, which is the

county seat of Franklin county and the most populated town featured in this analysis, is

classified as rural fringe rather than urban (“Search for Public Schools”).

Living in less populated, rural areas has many effects on students and their education.

Firstly, living rurally can mean that it is much more difficult to get to school. Students frequently

have bus rides of over an hour and can be easily waylaid by bad weather conditions such as

snow or hail. They also might have to travel some distance on their own if they have long

driveways or live on private roads which can be difficult. Physical distance is often an

underestimated factor that students face even though it can severely limit students' access to

learning. Another consideration of rural living is the difficulty of finding teachers who are willing

to relocate because schools are often a vast difference from one another, so any changes in

employment usually mean uprooting your life. Without enough teachers employed, a student's

educational experience becomes very limited. Also, important to consider is how the

employment opportunities in rural areas are more limited in some ways, but also offer unique

occupations. The fewer stories and businesses in an area mean fewer opportunities for

employment and the fewer choices one has, but that also opens the door for entrepreneurship

and starting one's own business. Jobs related to forestry and other outdoor occupations are also

more common in rural areas. In many ways, students would have more and less opportunities

for employment living in a rural area. As a teacher of these students, it will be my responsibility

to share these options, especially those related to my field, and help students discover which of

these paths they would like to pursue. In conclusion, there are many ways in which having a

small population in a rural area could affect students and me as their teacher.

School

As mentioned before, Mt. Blue High School is a part of the Mt. Blue Campus which

includes the Foster Career and Technical Education Center (Foster CTE Center) and The
 Long 8

Franklin County Adult and Community Education center. It is a public high school that serves

grades 9–12 located at 129 Seamon Road Farmington, Maine. Mt. Blue is a part of the Mt. Blue

Regional School District also called regional school district nine. It was previously called MSAD

9 (Maine School Administrative District) before it was renovated in the early 2010s. For said

renovation, 63,568,833 dollars were allocated and the entire school was redone by 2013 a

change that made it 35.8% bigger and the largest school in Franklin County (“Mt. Blue

Campus”). It is three stories tall and currently holds 702 students and 209 faculty members

making the student to teacher ratio 13:1 which is slightly higher than the Maine state average of

12:1 (“Mt Blue High”). It has an 80% graduation rate 5% less than Maine’s average and 6% less

than the country's average (“Public High School”). The math and English proficiency scores for

the school are also lower than average. Math proficiency is 30-34% which is lower than the

Maine state average of 36% and the national average of 47%. English has a proficiency rate of

45-49% which is lower than the Maine state average of 56% (“Mt Blue High”).

Much of the aforementioned data can affect students' learning in serious ways. For

example, the renovation of the Mt Blue Campus had many positive effects. For one, the Foster

Technology Center became more integrated into the main building as the classrooms are

spread throughout the school rather than all separated by a glass corridor as they were. It also

improved the basic conditions of the school fixing the copious leaks and bad heating that could
 Long 9

have distracted from teaching and learning. Much of the other data has less positive

implications for the education process though. The higher than average student to teacher ratio

means less attention can be given to each student and each teacher has a larger workload to

deal with. The lower graduation rate implies that there may be internal struggles with getting

students to graduation which likely puts more pressure on staff and students to succeed and get

the number of graduates up. The low test scores likely have similar ramifications as the low

graduation rate along with meaning that students will probably have to focus on learning some

of the basic skills these tests focus on rather than more advanced work. In my planning, I will

attempt to assess what of these basic skills students need the most help with and target those

above others.

Obtaining high scores would seem especially in light of how the school’s website says its

“main goal is to prepare students for college and careers” (“About | Mt. Blue”). On a more school

community focused level, the campus code is to “Be Here. Be Safe. Be Responsible. Be

Respectful.” Also, Mt. Blue is well known for its athletics, especially its Alpine and Nordic related

teams, which have won many state championships and even produced an Olympic gold

medalist (“About | Mt. Blue”). They also offer a wide variety of other extracurricular activities,

such as the Franklin County Fiddlers, GSTA Club, Civil Rights Team, Future Business Leaders

of America, and many, many more. The Foster CTE portion of campus offers 20 programs

ranging from forestry to pre-engineering, to early childhood occupations. There is also a variety

of advanced placement courses offered in areas such as English, Calculus, Physics, Statistics,

History, Art, French, and Spanish. Classes are held on an alternating eighty-minute block

schedule which allows students to take up to eight classes across eight periods if they so wish.

Core academic courses are offered at five different levels: Advanced Placement, Honors,

College Preparatory, College Preparatory Intermediate, and Applied. Overall, it is easy to see

how Mt. Blue offers many opportunities to its students to pursue any interests they may have to
 Long 10

the fullest extent and focuses on providing courses and opportunities that will prepare them for

life after high school.

Classroom

My mentor teacher, Hattie DeRaps, has been with the school for years and teaches a

variety of subjects including Children’s Literature, sophomore English, and Bridge English 102.

Specifically, this year she is teaching Children’s Literature, Trip Literature, two sophomore

English CPI classes, one sophomore English CP class, one sophomore English Honors class,

and Bridge English 102. Across these classes and subjects, she teaches a very diverse group

of students with varying levels of ability and vastly different personalities. She is located on the

second floor in the F wing of Mt. Blue campus in room 209. Students of hers frequently visit the

classroom whether they have classes with her right now or not. It is very clear that she and her

classroom are a place of welcome and respite for many students. Accordingly, the classroom

climate is one of care and socialization, but only of quiet and focused work when necessary. I

feel very fortunate to be working in a space where students already feel so comfortable and

ready to work. It will make acclimating to the classroom and taking over teaching a much

smoother experience.

Room 209 is only a short walk away from both the library and the canteen and located

centrally enough to be in the heart of the school. The wing her classroom is in is bright with

sunlight and every teacher has added a little bit of decoration to the hall. Her classroom is a

burst of color and activity as soon as you walk in. There is student artwork, student projects, a

few large bookcases, four whiteboards, two billboards, posters, and more. Even the door is

decorated with snow globes students made to celebrate winter and its various holidays. She

prefers to work at a student desk or a small moving desk she has up front facing the classroom.

The desks are arranged in uniform clusters throughout the room and everything is lit up by two

large windows which face the inner courtyard of the campus. Despite the copious decoration,

the room is airy and open with plenty enough room to fit the largest class of students she has.
 Long 11

There is also a closet in the corner which holds books, art supplies, snacks, and just about

anything a student or teacher could need for. Overall, the room is very bright and welcoming,

shows my mentor's regard and respect for students through her spotlighting of their work,

implies an expectation of work, and could easily be adjusted for any need I or students may

have.

As for technology, every student is equipped with a MacBook Air and every wing of the

building has a signal amplifier so that the wifi connection is always strong. Internet access at

home is less of a guarantee, but structures are in place to identify and support those students.

There is also a printer students can use in the library, which is only a short walk away from the

classroom. Above the whiteboard at the front of the classroom is an Apple TV projector, where

teachers and students can connect via Bluetooth to present projects or other assignments.

There are no strict rules when it comes to phone use, but students are expected to show phone

edicacy during class. Frequently students’ phones will be used as a resource to quickly lookup

information, check grades, or get on Classroom. All lessons, class activities, assignments, and

grades are also located online in Google Classroom. This is so that any absent students can

know what they missed, so that there is a record of everything done in class, and as a way to

organize units in easily accessible place. Overall, access to technology is copious and

technology is used at varying levels to great success throughout every class.

Students

Across the seven classes, my mentor teaches there is a wide array of students with

different ability levels, grade levels, identities, and personalities. The students in Children’s

Literature are primarily seniors because it is an elective class, and most have an interest in

going into a child care related field. Many of these students also are enrolled in the Foster

Career Technical Center’s program for early childhood occupations. However, the class also

attracts students who are involved in the arts because it is a very craft forward, creative course.

The English 102 class is all seniors who are enrolled in the Bridge program meaning they take
 Long 12

their classes as a cohort and receive college credits for them. These students are highly driven

individuals who took aim to get a head start on college years early. Many of these students have

expressed that they knew that finances would be difficult if they wanted to pursue college, so

they took advantage of receiving reduced cost college credits too. This class is also primarily

girls with nine of the ten students in the class identifying as girls. An affiliation that curses both of

these groups is senioritis. Both groups often have trouble focusing on class more concerned

with matters of college and graduation. They also have frequent absences which often affect the

quality of their work.

The two CPI classes contain the lowest performing students of the sophomore class.

Many of them struggle with reading and writing, particularly grammar and decoding. Due to this,

all class texts are read aloud in their entirety as are all instructions and there is frequent work

time to assist on assignments. There is also much more scaffolding necessary leading up to

assignments and assessments. I will have to put in many supports when I take over teaching

these classes and focus on improving basic writing skills. Both classes are also male

dominated, with no female students originally in them before a transfer student arrived. One

class has five students whereas the other has 15, but many of the students are out frequently so

those numbers are often smaller in practice. I will have to frequently go over assignments and

missed work to try and make sure all students receive instruction.

From what I’ve experienced so far, the smaller class is much more difficult to work with

because all of the students are on the quiet side and there are so few of them that class

activities and discussions are quick and sparse without lots of prompting. I will have to prepare

questions to prompt conversation and perhaps utilize students' notebooks more. Many of the

students also have jobs outside of school that take up significant amounts of their time. It is

common to hear that a student didn’t do their homework or did it quickly because they were

more focused on working. I find the best way to get students more involved in their work is to

connect it to their lives in relevant ways, so I will try to do that with these students and their
 Long 13

work. Despite being very salt of the earth and easy to get along with, the maturity level of both

of these classes is low. The students get off task often, interrupt class, joke around with each

other, and generally act like sophomore boys which can make instruction difficult.

The sophomore Honors level class has eight students, four girls, and four boys most of

which are notably privileged. All but one student identifies as White, one student is a part of the

special education program, and all but two students identify as middle class. The disparity in

experiences is wide among the students and it is frequently very clear this is the case. There is

sometimes tension when the more privileged students are faced with the less privileged

students' experiences. Giving students outlets to talk about such issues and letting them know

how they can respond will be a goal of my instruction for this group, hopefully in the process

thawing some of that tension a bit. There are two close pairs of friends within the class, two

students who are adjacent to those pairs, and then two more isolated students. I hope to open

the classroom environment up a little bit and help all of the students to bond more as there is a

very high probability they will share classes nn others, but still, involve next semester. These

students live up to the name of their class and are very driven to complete work and engage in

class. Some are quieter than others, but still involve themselves in class discussion. They will

need a more rigorous pace and I should set high expectations for them as I plan so as to

challenge them appropriately.

The sophomore CP level class holds a mix of abilities and is the most diverse group of

students outside of those taking the elective courses. The mix of genders is pretty even, there

are a few POC students, a few students with IEPs or 504 plans, LGBTQ+ students, students

with various socioeconomic statuses, many adopted students, etc. This blend provides ample

content to fuel discussions and allows students to bring many different experiences to the class

and their work. This class also holds the most open and talkative students sometimes to the

detriment of the class as a whole because they are easily derailed. However, this is a real asset

during class discussions and presentations because students are not hesitant in sharing their
 Long 14

thoughts and research. A difficult part of having such a diverse group is that their abilities levels

and motivation toward school vary a lot. What would be challenging work and a rigorous pace

for one student would be completely overwhelming and impossible for another. This means

there needs to be a lot of differentiation and scaling of work planned when planning instruction.

Every student should ideally be in their zone of proximal development, so assignments need to

leave room for students to illustrate their best work no matter what level they are at.

I also did some learning surveys with these students that asked about them as a person

and about them as a student. Some of the questions were multiple choice, some were open

responses, and some were short answers. Most of the questions were focused on getting a

wide grasp on who students were, their interests, what they were interested in doing with their

life, and how I could make their learning better. There were some interesting answers such as

how multiple students named Supernatural as their favorite show and how almost every student

said they learned by watching someone else do what they needed to. The results of interest

questions like what is your favorite movie were used to make content relevant to students. I

wanted to integrate students' interests as much as possible so they would engage with lessons

and feel like what they were learning was related to their lives in a meaningful way. The

questions more focused on how students learn were meant to help me plan instruction. For

example, I plan to use modeling frequently because of the aforementioned result to the When

I’m learning something new, I prefer to… question. Also, knowing students' wishes for their

future helps immensely when trying to motivate them to complete work. If you can tell a student

why their homework will help them get their dream job then they are a lot more willing to do it.

Overall, these surveys acted as a great introduction to students on a personal and academic

level and helped me go into planning instruction with a more sure idea of how to help students.
Long 15
Long 16
 Long 17

Works Cited

“About | Mt. Blue RSD.” Www.mtbluersd.org, www.mtbluersd.org/about.

“Cost of Living Index by State 2020.” Worldpopulationreview.com, 2021,

worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/cost-of-living-index-by-state.

“Maine Population 2020 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs).” Worldpopulationreview.com,

worldpopulationreview.com/states/maine-population.

“Diversity in US Public Schools (2020).” Www.publicschoolreview.com, World Population

Review, www.publicschoolreview.com/diversity-rankings-stats/national-data.

“Maine Poverty Rate.” Www.welfareinfo.org, www.welfareinfo.org/poverty-rate/maine/.

“Mt Blue High School (2022 Ranking) | Farmington, ME.” Public School Review,

www.publicschoolreview.com/mt-blue-high-school-profile.

“Mt. Blue Campus.” Www.mtbluersd.org, www.mtbluersd.org/mbc.

“Mt. Blue Campus Tour Guide.” Sites.google.com,

sites.google.com/a/mtbluersd.org/mt-blue-learning-campus-tour-guide/welcome.

“Population Density in the U.S., by State 2018 | Statista.” Statista, Statista, 2018,

www.statista.com/statistics/183588/population-density-in-the-federal-states-of-the-us/.

“Public High School Graduation Rates.” National Center for Education Statistics, U.S.

Department of Education, Apr. 2021, nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/coi.

“Search for Public Schools - School Detail for Mt Blue High School.” Nces.ed.gov,

nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=231480900549&I

D=231480900549.

United States Census Bureau. “Census Data.” Census.gov, 2020, data.census.gov/cedsci/.