Commissioner’s Update – May 19, 2011

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We’re almost there!

The Legislature’s Education Committee is winding down its work this week, with final discussions on charter schools and other legislation set for Friday. The House and Senate will be working late for the next few weeks to pass a two-year budget and take final action on legislation. And next week I will make my next-to-last listening tour visit – this time to Washington County.

Things are racing to a crescendo here in Augusta, not to mention in your schools, where students, teachers and administrators are focused on a successful finish to the school year.

Soon we’ll have time to step back and focus. I’m looking forward to using the summer to review what we’ve heard from the field, from legislators, and from the public, then building consensus around a strategic plan to improve Maine education and the Department of Education.

For now, we take a deep breath and plunge in for the final lap.

— Stephen Bowen

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE

Administrative Letters

Reporting Requirements

  • Watch next week for an improved calendar of reporting requirements.

Dispatches

Gilbert students eat up nutrition lessons

It’s not every day that students laugh and smile when the subject is table manners and sanitation, but Gilbert Elementary School in Augusta has found a way around that rule. By Tim Follo | More

DOE program pairs math and trades

Nearly 20 pairs of mathematics and career-and-technical school teachers have teamed up over the past year to work on integrating more math into the vocational classes where students apply it. | More

From the Commissioner

Toward a literacy of learning

The students I’ve met in classrooms using a standards-based model of education have shown me they have an unparalleled understanding of what it means to learn. By Stephen Bowen | More

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