Deering High School Students Mobilizing Around the ACCESS Test

While there is no formal grassroots organization addressing the inequities of the ACCESS Test and ELL classroom reform, there have been waves of primarily FGLI (first-generation, low-income) students who have historically and in the present mobilized around these issues. Many of these students have been former ELLs and have contributed to various efforts to promote fair testing methods and equity for ELLs. Subsequently, most of these mobilization efforts have been initiated by Deering High School students, beginning with four young Black women. 

For context, Deering High School (DHS) is one of the main public schools located in Portland, Maine.

Further, many of these DHS students were members of Seeds of Peace, an international/national camp based in Otisfield, Maine, where students learn to engage with one another across lines of conflict through facilitated dialogues.

Their main initiative was to call attention to the ACCESS Test and ELLs experience in the classroom. Over time, this concerted effort extended its reach to two other larger public high schools: Casco Bay High School and Portland High School. These students already had the power of a robust, pre-existing network amongst each other from Seeds of Peace, so their ability to mobilize around the ACCESS Test was more manageable. 

Youth Organizers Become the Voice

Furthermore, one of the most prominent youth activists that made gains in mobilizing around this issue was Mariana Angelo, a South Sudanese-American community organizer from Portland, Maine. She began mobilizing around this issue in high school; however, she is now one of the founding members of Black P.O.W.E.R., an acronym Black Portland Organizers Working to End Racism. At the time, she attended Portland High School in Portland, Maine.