Category: Assessment

Commissioner’s Update – May 14, 2015

From the Maine Department of Education

LD 131 “An Act To Amend the Laws Related to Public Funding of Charter Schools” was signed May 8, 2015 by Governor LePage. Under the new law  Maine DOE will make monthly payments directly to approved public charter schools starting in FY16, the same way the Department has long distributed funds to traditional public school districts.

Currently, districts that lose students to public charter schools are billed directly by the receiving charter school. The Maine DOE will provide financial relief to traditional school units since they no longer must include these payments in their annual budgets.

The new funding method will relieve the unpredictable financial impact of charters to individual (sending) districts and was overwhelmingly supported by leaders of Maine’s school districts, including the 100 or so that now have at least one student enrolled in one of the state’s five bricks-and-mortar charter schools or the virtual Maine Connections Academy. The change also allows Maine to move beyond the divisive debate about charter school funding and refocus on how to create opportunities for students to be most successful at Maine public schools, whether they be charters or traditional.

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Notices and Reporting

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First Lady LePage, Acting Education Commissioner announce 2015 County Teachers of the Year

First Lady Ann LePage and Acting Education Commissioner Tom Desjardin marked Teacher Appreciation Week by announcing the top teacher from each Maine county. | More

Maine Department of Education pledges additional funding to support autism resource, research institute

The Maine Department of Education is committing over $150,000 to continue the work of the state’s first autism institute. | More

Department seeks feedback on ESEA waiver renewal

The Maine DOE is seeking feedback on Maine’s proposed Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Waiver Renewal application. | More

Alternate assessment for math, ELA closing May 15

The deadline to submit the National Center and State Collaborative Alternate Assessment (NCSC), used to assess students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in mathematics and English language arts is this Friday, May 15. | More

Maine DOE joins library advocates in Washington, D.C. for National Library Legislative Day

Last week the Maine DOE was represented along with hundreds of library supporters in Washington, D.C. to speak with their legislators about the importance of libraries. | More

Notice to 30th annual school wellness conference applicants; due date extended to May 29

If your school submitted an application for the 30th Annual Maine Schoolsite Health Promotion Program “Wellness” Conference to the Maine DOE but has not yet received a confirmation please contact the Department. | More

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Commissioner’s Update – April 30, 2015

From the Maine Department of Education

As parts of its commitment to ensuring all students have access to great teachers and leaders, the Maine DOE has developed a resource that districts can use to self-assess their readiness to pilot their Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth (PEPG) systems in the 2015-16 school year. The Pilot Readiness Guide provides:

  • The current implementation timeline
  • Key system components that districts must and/or should pilot
  • Indicators of readiness to pilot each component
  • Relevant resources, with page and section references
  • Questions that school administrative units might seek to answer during the pilot
  • Guidance for Teacher Incentive Fund districts (TIF 3 and TIF 4)
  • DEMO student learning and growth effectiveness rating scales

This guide is intended for local district use. It is not for reporting purposes. As a follow-up to this resource, in June, the Department will ask districts to confirm their intent to pilot by completing a short online survey. Details about this process will be provided with the release of the survey.

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Notices and Reporting

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Maine DOE invites educators to performance assessment webinar

The Maine DOE is inviting Maine educators to participate in a free webinar, Laying the Foundation for Performance Assessment: Lessons Learned from the Innovation Lab Network Pilot in New England, on Wednesday, May 27 at 3 p.m. | More

Regional school calendars past due

The Department is reminding school administrative units (SAU) and private schools approved for tuition purposes that they are now required to establish regional school calendars, in coordination with their local secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) school. | More

Educators encouraged to save the date for MLTI Summer Institute

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) is encouraging educators to save the date for its 2015 Summer Institute, scheduled July 21-23 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. | More

MaineCare Seed payment adjustments made, report review due May 22

The Maine DOE is reminding school administrative units (SAUs) that the remaining 2014-15 subsidy checks for General Purpose Aid for local schools will reflect adjustments for MaineCare Seed payments paid by the Department on behalf of districts. | More

Alternate assessments closing soon

The deadline to submit the MEA Alternate Science (PAAP) portfolios electronically is 5 p.m. today, April 30. | More

Maine teachers invited to participate in assessment hand scoring

Maine’s teachers are invited to apply for part-time work available now through June as a reader/evaluator in the scoring process for students across states who participated in the 2015 Smarter Balanced developed assessment.| More

Newly released ACCESS for ELLs® score reports a resource for supporting students

The Maine DOE is reminding schools that the ACCESS for ELLs® score reports received earlier this month can be used to determine if individual English learners are meeting expected English language proficiency growth. | More

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Maine teachers invited to participate in assessment hand scoring

Maine’s teachers are invited to apply for part-time work available now through June as a reader/evaluator in the scoring process for students across states who participated in the 2015 Smarter Balanced developed assessment. Continue reading “Maine teachers invited to participate in assessment hand scoring” →

Commissioner’s Update – April 23, 2015

From the Maine Department of Education

The Maine DOE is recognizing 21 schools across the state for their high performance or progress as measured by the State’s federally required accountability system.

As part of Maine’s approved application for flexibility under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA or No Child Left Behind), the State received a waiver to implement its own plan to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps and increase the quality of instruction through the implementation of its own tiered statewide system of support. By reviewing annual progress and student proficiency, schools are placed into one of five categories: priority, focus, monitor, progressing and meeting, allowing the Department to most intensively target support to the schools that need it most.

Just as Maine’s system allows the Department to identify schools that most need improvement support, it also recognizes those showing the greatest levels of improvement and performance.

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Notices and Reporting

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Maine DOE specialists support improvement initiatives at newly identified schools

The Department’s School Improvement Team is continuing to provide support and technical assistance to help raise student achievement at the state’s schools, including those recently identified as priority, focus and monitor under Maine’s federally required accountability system. | More

Maine DOE seeks readers for 21st CCLC grant competition

The Maine DOE is seeking qualified grant readers for its upcoming 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) grant application review process. | More

Maine Arts Commission seeks teacher leaders for assessment initiative

The Maine Arts Commission is inviting visual and performing arts teachers to consider being a teacher leader with the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI), phase 5. | More

Maine School Nutrition Association dishes out top director, manager awards

The Maine School Nutrition Association (MSNA) has honored RSU 13 Director of School Nutrition Charles Butler as Director of the Year and Portland Public Schools Nutrition Manager Nancy McAdam as Manager of the Year. | More

State releases school-based modules on tick and mosquito diseases and prevention

New modules on tick and mosquito diseases and prevention that were developed by the Maine CDC Division of Infectious Disease with input from the Maine DOE are now available to the state’s schools. | More

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Commissioner’s Update – April 16, 2015

From the Maine Department of Education

The Maine DOE is encouraging educators to attend the Fostering Financial Education in Maine Schools conference on May 1 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

The conference, which is hosted by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, is intended for educators, administrators and counselors who are interested in improving the financial capability of Maine students. The event will feature free financial education resources for K-12 and college-age students with a variety of workshops presented by classroom teachers and financial literacy experts.

As part of Maine DOE’s ongoing efforts to support financial education, the Department’s Social Studies Specialist Kristie Littlefield will be conducting a session.

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Notices and Reporting

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Governor LePage supports SEALSfit Program, allocates $16,000 from contingency fund

Governor Paul R. LePage announced this month he is allocating $16,000 to the SEALSfit youth leadership program. | More

SAT irregularity reports due April 17

The College Board is reminding Test Center Supervisors at Maine schools that participated in the April 15 SAT School Day Administration and have their make-up date on April 29, that they must submit any irregularity reports to ETS by Friday, April 17. | More

2015 Educator Talent Pool recommendations due May 1

The Maine DOE is accepting recommendations for the 2015 Maine Educator Talent Pool through May 1. | More

Department announces reporting requirement, resources to help Special Purpose Private Schools support pathways to proficiency

The Maine DOE is providing the state’s Special Purpose Private Schools (SPPS) with new resources so their students are better positioned on the pathway to proficiency. | More

Webinar to overview School Improvement Grant process for eligible schools

The Maine DOE has submitted its federal application for continued School Improvement Grant (SIG) funding. If approved for the sixth straight year, the Department would receive funding to distribute to help the state’s most struggling schools. | More

Maine DOE trains 28 districts in language of science

The Maine DOE ESL/Bilingual Programs recently provided training for 28 school districts in developing and using language effectively to make connections between science language and science concepts. | More

May 20 workshop to focus on supporting young children with autism

The Maine DOE is encouraging educators to attend a May 20 workshop entitled Language and Communication for Young Children with Autism. | More

 

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