Teachers invited to participate in webinar
Last week, the Maine Department of Education rolled out A-F report cards for each school in the state as part of our new Maine School Performance Grading System.
These snapshots of where our schools are today based on existing reading and mathematics assessment data – and in the case of our high schools, graduation rates – show areas where we are doing well and those where we need to improve. No matter where you stand on the new grading system, we believe this is an opportunity to engage educators like you in a positive, productive conversation about our shared commitment to giving Maine kids the best education we can. We want to talk with you about how the grades were developed and how we intend to support schools, especially those with lower letter grades, in the months ahead. We’d also like your feedback on how the Department can help schools improve student achievement.
To facilitate that, we’d like to invite you and your school colleagues to join me, along with Chief Academic Officer Rachelle Tome and Director of the Statewide Longitudinal Data System Bill Hurwitch for an online forum about A-F and how it can be used as an invaluable tool for improving Maine’s schools.
The Department will share how we can be a resource to help you in understanding and putting this data tool to work immediately for you and your students. We’ll also talk about other available resources the State has or is developing to make available to you. Then we’ll open the floor to your feedback as to how we can further support your important efforts in the classroom.
The forum will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 16. We encourage you to participate with others from your school so you can pose questions as a cohort and continue the conversation after the forum has concluded.
Register for the webinar: www1.gotomeeting.com/register/631576520.
We look forward to talking with you on May 16 and beyond as together we implement improvement initiatives and reach our shared goal for every school in Maine to be an A school that is preparing our students for meaningful college, career and civic engagement.
I would love to attend the webinar, but I have after school duty and a IEP meeting. Thank you for recording it for later viewing.
We appreciate your questions, Matt and Rebecca. Yes, the webinars in this series will be recorded and archived on the website. We’ll be putting out more information about the specific web location later this week. Thanks for your interest in learning more about the School Performance Grading System.
Either that, or can the webinar be archived and accessible for later/continuous viewing? Many of our teachers can’t make it at that time, but would be interested in hearing more.
What a great opportunity. Unfortunately, it is scheduled on the day of the MLTI Conference. Many MLTI educators will be in transit on the way back from this conference and will be unable to take part. Is there any chance to have another session so all educators can be involved?