Advantage 2014 is the Auburn schools’ initiative to roll out iPads to kindergarteners and, ultimately, all city students in the early grades. The Auburn plan, however, involves more than simply equipping the city’s youngest students with tablet devices.
It’s a plan to make those devices an integral part of student learning: to use the adaptive power of iPads to boost basic literacy and numeracy skills, to use any range of iPad apps to enhance students’ problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, to provide students with a way to take control of much of their learning at a young age.
The Auburn school department has a well thought-out plan for deploying iPads, training teachers to use them effectively, and measuring the initiative’s success. And as this week is making clear, many will be watching Auburn’s journey every step of the way.
Please note: There will be no Commissioner’s Update on Nov. 24, Thanksgiving. The next Update will be published Dec. 1.
— Stephen Bowen
ACTION ITEMS
Administrative Letters
- No Administrative Letters this week.
Notices
- Notice: Survey on early post-secondary educational opportunities
- Special education rules and ‘Transfer Students’
- November is Military Family Month
Reporting
Please note: We generally provide notice of requirements only once. Please check the Reporting Calendar (link below) regularly for a list of ALL upcoming items.
- No new reporting requirements this week.
NEWS & VIEWS
Maine program seeks students in need of GED
The Maine High School Equivalency Program is enrolling students for the 2011-12 year. The program seeks students who work in agriculture and logging and want to earn their GED. | More
Registration opens for Maine Wind Blade Challenge
High school students are encouraged to sign up for a competition that challenges them to design wind blades and work with composites professionals to perfect the finished product. | More
Registration opens for Real World Design Challenge
The Real World Design Challenge provides students with opportunities to apply the engineering lessons of the classroom to technical problems faced in the workplace. | More