The Maine Department of Education provides leadership and support to educators and families in preparing all Maine students for success in college, careers and civic life.
The Maine DOE Newsroom highlights the work of Maine schools and the Department of Education.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Data Team has scheduled the following data reporting webinars for this spring. | More
| Visit the DC&R Reporting Calendar |
Public education is the cornerstone of our society and holds us together. On this month’s What Holds Us Together podcast, Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin talks with Steve Bailey, Executive Director of the Maine School Boards Association and Miranda Engstrom, 2023 Hancock County Teacher of the Year and literacy specialist at Lamoine Consolidated School. These champions of education discuss the importance of lifting up the voices of educators and sharing the amazing things happening in schools across Maine through their Maine Loves Public Schools and #LoveMaineSchools campaigns. Listen on Apple or Spotify. | More
Schools, community-based organizations, and childcare providers can apply for the 2024 Maine Out-of-School Time (MOST) Career Exploration grants through the Maine Department of Education (DOE). These grants support meaningful career exploration opportunities for students in grades 4 – 6 that connect students with Maine businesses and career opportunities, which may include experiential learning trips, guest speakers, job shadows, and more! | More
Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires each state educational agency that receives Title I funds to create a State Committee of Practitioners (CoP) to advise the State in carrying out its responsibilities under the Title I program. The purpose of this committee is to review any state rules and regulations relating to Title I and provide recommendations concerning processes and procedures related to its implementation. | More
State employees, including the Maine Department of Education (DOE), recently participated in the annual Take ME to Work Day by hosting their children and/or children they know for the day at the Maine Capitol Complex and at state-operated locations across Maine. | More
The following student opportunity was shared by the Secretary of State’s Office. It is nearly 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and organizations across the country are gearing up to recognize this milestone and the history of our nation. | More
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) has awarded $28.6 million in School Revolving Renovation Fund (SRRF) loans to 12 school administrative units. | More
A reminder to those families who have opted for home instruction during the 2024-2025 School Year that, per Title 20-A: 5001-A , an annual assessment of academic progress is required. | More
Walk into any classroom at Maranacook Community Middle School and you’d be hard-pressed to identify a 6th grader from an 8th grader in the class. And that’s part of the magic at Maranacook. Instead of being separated by grade level, students are grouped into multiage teams. | More
RSU 40 staff are finding ways to use robotic technology, funded by the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Maine Teaches CS Initiative, to support interdisciplinary learning across grade levels. The school’s acquisition of Sphero Bolts and Indi cars is making learning experiences playful and engaging for both students and educators. | More
Educators for a Multilingual Maine (EMME) has announced that Bangor High School student Amanda Tomlinson will receive the EMME 2024 Student of the Year award. | More
| Submit your Maine School Success Story |
As part of the Preschool Development Renewal Grant (PDG) Maine DOE and Maine DHHS are offering the opportunity for a summer summit series in 2024 and 2025 to support communities in their local system alignment and coordination for early childhood care and education programming from birth through the early elementary years. Teams accepted to participate in the summit will also be awarded $800 mini grants to support their efforts in developing and implementing action plans to address an identified early care and education need in their communities. | More
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) has partnered with Maine Roads to Quality Professional Development Network and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Child and Family Services to offer a no-cost book study for Maine early care and education professionals (serving children birth-Grade 3) interested in creating more inclusive classrooms. | More
| Visit the Professional Development Calendar |
View current Maine Department of Education employment opportunities here
Apply Now! Schools, community-based organizations, and childcare providers can apply for the 2024 Maine Out-of-School Time (MOST) Career Exploration grants through the Maine Department of Education (DOE). These grants support meaningful career exploration opportunities for students in grades 4 – 6 that connect students with Maine businesses and career opportunities, which may include experiential learning trips, guest speakers, job shadows, and more! Underlying these experiences is critical to helping students build and strengthen relationships with caring adults and peers in their schools, childcare centers, and communities.
Funded through Governor Mills’ Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, the 2022 Statewide Expansion of Extended Learning Programming has engaged hundreds of secondary students throughout the state in real-world career exploration experiences. The Maine DOE is excited to build on these successes to reach younger students in this expanded career exploration program. The 2024 Maine Out-of-School (MOST) Career Exploration Request for Applications (RFA, also known as grants) is available here: Grant RFPs and RFAs | Division of Procurement Services (maine.gov). See RFA 202404087
Schools, nonprofit organizations, licensed or licensed-exempt child care providers, municipal parks and recreation departments that are current members of the Maine Recreation and Park Association, and public libraries may apply. Please see the RFA for explicit information and definitions on eligibility and allowable uses of funding.
Grant awards will range in size, with $300,000 available. The 2024 Maine Out-of-School Time Career Exploration grant requires a marketing and outreach plan for reaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as an emphasis on Maine DOE’s Whole Student Framework.
This funding can potentially facilitate career exploration for students in grades 4 – 6 before, during, or after school, on weekends, and/or during the summer. Applications will also be considered for schools and organizations that wish to use the funding to enhance or expand existing out-of-school programming. Grants are expected to be awarded at the beginning of June. All programming must be completed by September 1, 2024.
The Maine Out-of-School-Time grant opportunity is available through the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, funded in its entirety by the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) fund.
Public education is the cornerstone of our society and holds us together. On this month’s What Holds Us Together podcast, Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin talks with Steve Bailey, Executive Director of the Maine School Boards Association and Miranda Engstrom, 2023 Hancock County Teacher of the Year and literacy specialist at Lamoine Consolidated School. These champions of education discuss the importance of lifting up the voices of educators and sharing the amazing things happening in schools across Maine through their Maine Loves Public Schools and #LoveMaineSchools campaigns. Listen on Apple or Spotify.
You can learn more about #LoveMaineSchools on their Facebook page and submit your great stories here.
You can learn more about Maine Loves Public Schools and get involved here.
The Maine Department of Education (DOE) would also love to highlight the amazing things happening in your school. Share your stories here or invite us to your school by emailing communications.doe@maine.gov.
Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires each state educational agency that receives Title I funds to create a State Committee of Practitioners (CoP) to advise the State in carrying out its responsibilities under the Title I program. The purpose of this committee is to review any state rules and regulations relating to Title I and provide recommendations concerning processes and procedures related to its implementation.
Committee members must be representatives from the following categories:
Meetings of the committee will be conducted on an ‘as needed’ basis via Zoom (most likely 3 times per year), with the term of membership commencing July 1, 2024, and expiring June 30, 2026. For those looking for more information on the Title I Committee of Practitioners, please see the FAQ.
Those interested in serving on Maine DOE’s Title I Committee of Practitioners Committee should fill out this form by Friday, June 7th, 2024. Questions related to the CoP can be sent to Rita Pello, at rita.pello@maine.gov.
RSU 40 staff are finding ways to use robotic technology, funded by the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Maine Teaches CS Initiative, to support interdisciplinary learning across grade levels. The school’s acquisition of Sphero Bolts and Indi cars is making learning experiences playful and engaging for both students and educators.
Holly Doe, Director of Technology for RSU 40, applied for the grant last school year to foster experiential learning through technology for even the youngest students. Sphero Indi cars introduce coding at the simplest level using color tiles to tell the robot what to do. While this is an ideal tool for younger students, it is also great for older students when the goal is not coding itself but supporting other learning outcomes.
By leveraging robotic technology, students in RSU 40 are exploring new ways to retell—or tell—stories.
Students in grades 1-3 used Sphero Indi cars to retell stories they had read in class while seniors in Spanish IV wrote their own stories in the foreign language and crafted narrated films using the Indi cars.
In the elementary classrooms, the robots foster natural collaboration as pairs of students work together to plan a path of color tiles that represent their story summary. Crafting a simple costume for the Indi car and scenery or other characters to be placed along the car’s path engages students’ creativity and requires students to consider symbolic representations. The simple, flexible lesson quickly adapts to accommodate students’ and teachers’ needs.
At the high school, the ease of using the Indi cars allows students to combine story mapping with other technology. Students film the cars in front of a green screen and use Canva’s AI image generator to create backgrounds for their movies which they then narrate in Spanish.
Recently, Heather Webster, RSU 40’s technology instructional coach, shared her experiences using Sphero Indi robots in elementary ELA classrooms and high school Spanish classrooms at the Maine Council for English Language Arts spring conference. Participants were introduced to Indi cars, watched video clips of RSU 40 students engaging in the lessons, and then had the opportunity to try the activity themselves, working collaboratively with their tablemates to retell a familiar story. They left the conference session with a concrete example of how technology like the Sphero robots can support cross-curricular lessons and boost the playful spirit in a classroom.
(Maine Council for English Language Arts spring conference photos curtesy of Katie Kelley Photography)
The Computer Science Mobile Labs Grant has enabled RSU 40 to uniquely support playful learning. Robotic technology has enhanced students’ collaborative skills and their understanding of symbolic representation. Encouraging a playful approach to learning, this technology has increased student engagement and has inspired educators to rethink traditional teaching methods. The immersive learning experiences enabled by Sphero Indi and Bolt robots are set to shape the educational landscape at RSU 40 for years to come. Maine leads the nation in providing interdisciplinary computer science education to all Maine schools at all grade levels.
This story was provided by RSU 40. If you would like to submit good news from your school, fill out our good news submission form.)
