Maine students are invited to apply for the 2016 Horatio Alger Association Scholarship Program, one of the nation’s largest privately-funded college scholarship programs specifically designed to assist high school students who have faced and overcome great obstacles in their young lives.
Continue reading “Horatio Alger Scholarship for Maine students now open”
While many take time to relax over the summer, some folks at Maine DOE have done little of that while embracing their new positions with the Department.
Maine schools are invited to host the AT&T “It Can Wait” program, a national initiative designed to educate youth about the dangers of texting while driving.
Continue reading “Maine schools invited to host dangers of texting while driving program”
In Maine, and across the nation, students are invited to sing in unity our National Anthem on September 11. This year marks the third annual simultaneous sing-a-long organized by the National Anthem Movement and concludes a year-long celebration of the 200th birthday of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Are you a WeatherBug? Maine Schools can now connect more closely with the communities they serve through studying and tracking weather.
Continue reading “Maine schools invited to study and track weather”
AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Education received a three-year waiver allowing flexibility regarding specific requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), formerly known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB), whose reauthorization was recently debated and is being revised in our nation’s capital. While the revised ESEA shrinks the federal role yielding greater power to states to judge student achievement and school performance (from regulations outlined under NCLB), this recent waiver provides Maine educators and State and local leaders the opportunity for continued work toward rigorous and comprehensive State-developed plans designed to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction.
Continue reading “Maine Department of Education awarded flexibility from Feds”
Work continues as the Standardized Assessment Task Force participates in an email exchange of questions and answers, a system which was designed to be less invasive on members’ summer vacation and repeated travel to Augusta (even from as far away as St Agatha) for structured meetings.
Let’s review the first meeting of the selected members of educators (including Maine Education Association members), principals, superintendents, including some members of the Maine DOE staff. At the June gathering, each member of the task force offered their likes and dislikes with explanations in regard to last year’s assessment. Those comments included an appreciation for the past year’s testing as: shorter, more rigorous, flexible, connected to curriculum, web based, a wider window of testing, a secured platform, having a structured writing component, and statewide there were few issues.
More Notices | Administrative Letters | Reporting Calendar
A collaborative effort of Maine DOE, MSAD 17, and the University of Maine at Farmington came to life in June at the first of its kind in the nation — math coaching project. | More
The Maine DOE has unveiled a new application with a Sept. 30 deadline for annual gifted and talented program and budget approval. | More
A reminder this month that Maine’s school-based suicide awareness and prevention law calls for a one- to two-hour in-service training module which conforms to national guidelines. | More
The Maine DOE is now required to offer the ability to recover indirect costs associated with management of federal grants to recipients of federal money passed through the Department. | More
When the revisions to MUSER were approved during the legislative session just ended, they contained an error that was not caught before their enactment. | More
Maine DOE’s Office of Special Services has revised Maine’s Learning Disability Evaluation Report form. | More
The Maine DOE Office of Special Services is clarifying the calculation of local entitlement funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). | More
Journal of Maine Education seeks manuscripts that discuss specific ways in which deeper learning is provided for students. | More
More Dispatches | Press Releases | From the Commissioner
Work continues as the Standardized Assessment Task Force participates in an email exchange of questions and answers, a system which was designed to be less invasive on members’ summer vacation and repeated travel to Augusta (even from as far away as St Agatha) for structured meetings.
Continue reading “Standardized Assessment Task Force update”
A collaborative effort of Maine DOE, MSAD 17, and the University of Maine at Farmington came to life in June at the first of its kind in the nation — math coaching project. UMF’s graduate program, the Maine Mathematics Coaching Project, brought together 15 teacher coaching candidates and their administrators to participate in the summer institute.
Continue reading “A first of its kind in the nation in mathematics coaching”
The Maine DOE Office of Special Services is clarifying the calculation of local entitlement funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The federal requirement, maintenance of effort, may be calculated in four different ways:
Continue reading “Maine DOE clarifies calculation of Maintenance of Effort for IDEA funds”
Maine DOE Newsroom 