Regional Possibilities: A Case Study of the Western Maine Education Collaborative
The Center for Best Practice announces the release of its newest case study, which focuses on school transformation. Unlike the previous case studies, which highlighted individual school districts, the new case study focuses on a collective regional group: the Western Maine Educational Collaborative (WMEC).
This collaborative, comprising 11 school districts, has existed since 2006. In 2012, the districts unanimously decided to shift toward proficiency-based/learner-centered education, specifically Bea McGarvey and Chuck Schwahn’s model of customized learning.
How has the collaborative maximized resources to share talent and ease the costs of professional development? How have partnerships with local business and universities made this shift possible? For answers to these and other questions, read the WMEC case study – along with the case studies of RSU 2, RSU 18, and RSU 57 – on the Center for Best Practice website.
Check out other new resources
Last year RSU 57 adopted a teacher evaluation system based on Robert Marzano’s The Art and Science of Teaching. This is a many-years process that reflects the change in how education is done and how evaluation is done. RSU 57’s supervision plan, including all documents, can be found at the bottom of RSU 57’s resources section of the CBP website.
In addition, RSU 2 (Dresden, Hall-Dale, Monmouth and Richmond) has developed and adopted a new proficiency-based report card. The development process – which took about a year, and included many public meetings – replaced the report cards that had been in place since at least 2009. That report card is the second item under RSU 2’s resources section of the CBP website.
More information
- Gary Chapin
Maine DOE Research Associate
gary.chapin@maine.gov