Commissioner Bowen to help honor inaugural grads of Maine’s first charter school

HINCKLEY – Less than two years after Governor Paul R. LePage’s landmark student choice legislation finally allowing public charter schools in Maine went into effect, his Education Commissioner will help celebrate the state’s first charter school graduation.

Commissioner Stephen Bowen will speak this evening at the ceremony for the 10 students in the first class to graduate from The Maine Academy of Natural Sciences at Good Will-Hinckley (MeANS). The event will be held at 5 p.m. at the Moody Chapel on the campus of Kennebec Valley Community College in Hinckley.

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State Education Board has new leadership

AUGUSTA – The Maine State Board of Education has new leadership, having elected Nancy S. Perkins as chair and Peter E. Geiger as vice-chair.

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Schools embrace first chance for choice of learning technology

AUGUSTA – For the first time since the Maine Learning Technology Initiative began in 2002, schools have made a choice in the solutions they will use for 21^st century teaching and learning.

This fall, 39,457 students and educators will start using Apple’s iPad tablet ($266 per year, per seat with network), followed by 24,128 using Apple’s MacBook Air laptop ($319 per year, per seat with network) and 5,474 using the HP ProBook 4440 laptop which runs Microsoft Windows 7 ($286 per year, per seat with network).

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CTE instructors become authorized trainers for OSHA

The Maine Department of Education Career and Technical Education (CTE) team helped provide CTE instructors with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) professional development, which gives instructors the ability to issue OSHA cards to CTE students.

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STEM education-industry collaboration a model to look to

Yesterday, Governor LePage and I celebrated our nationally competitive robotics teams and students who have received recognition at the national level for their accomplishments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – known as STEM.

Maine should be proud of these innovative student leaders who received the Governor’s Promising STEM Awards. Continue reading “STEM education-industry collaboration a model to look to” →

Reminder: Regional school calendars due

A reminder that school administrative units and private schools approved for tuition purposes are now required to establish regional school calendars, in coordination with their local secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) school. Maine DOE has previously reminded districts that calendars must be submitted to us no later than June 1, 2013 so that we can ensure they are approved by the July 1, 2013 deadline. However, because June 1 falls on a Saturday, the Department will accept your submissions for review through Monday, June 3.

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Auto technology students win state championship, head for nationals

Students pose with their instructor, holding their first-place trophies for Maine’s Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition. — Alex Grover (left) and Noah Ufkin (right) celebrate with their instructor, John Carmichael, after their first-place victory in Maine’s Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition.

Thanks to Portland Public Schools for sharing this release with the Maine DOE for publication.

A team of automotive technology students from Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS) received first place in Maine’s Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition on May 11.

Twenty students representing 10 high schools across Maine put their automotive skills to the test by fixing mechanical problems on their assigned Ford cars. The team that fixed all of the problems on its car first won the competition.

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Maine FFA Association hosts 83rd state convention

Maine FFA State President Isaac Wortman (left) presents honorary state FFA degrees to Commissioners Bowen and Whitcomb.

The Maine FFA Association (formerly known as “Future Farmers of America”) held its 83^rd annual state convention May 9-10 at the University of Maine.

Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen and Agriculture Commissioner Walter Whitcomb spoke at the FFA award banquet, as did visiting National FFA President Clay Sapp. Gabrielle Cyr of Ashland High School was named Outstanding Student Chapter Officer, and Kevin Marquis of Easton was named FFA Chapter Advisor of the Year. Maine FFA specially recognized Thomas Hale, Caribou Regional Technology Center agriculture teacher, who is retiring after 38 years of teaching and numerous accomplishments.

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Hands-on learning a success in Oxford County

Eighth grader Ken Stump shows Commissioner Bowen a solar panel they created to heat the indoor greenhouse at Roberts Farm in Norway. — Eighth grader Ken Stump shows Commissioner Bowen a solar panel Oxford Hills Middle School students created to heat the indoor greenhouse at Roberts Farm in Norway.

I had the chance visit three Oxford County schools yesterday as part of my Promising Practices Tour, just a day after releasing the new A-F school grading system designed to improve transparency. As a state, we need to move beyond the one-size-fits-all models of teaching and embrace student-centered models like the ones many Maine schools, like the ones I visited in Oxford County, are doing. Governor LePage and I made reference to that Wednesday when we unveiled the new school report cards, which showed a majority of Maine’s elementary and high schools earned an A, B or C.

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Education Commissioner’s visit promotes promising practices at Oxford County schools

Mountain Valley Middle School student Abby LaBrash explains her genetics project to Commissioner Bowen.

SOUTH PARIS – A day after releasing a new school grading system designed to focus on transparency and continuous improvement in schools, Maine’s Education Commissioner toured three Oxford County schools that are embracing new models for educational excellence.

The visit by Maine Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen to Oxford Hills Middle School and Oxford Hills Technical School in RSU 17 and Mountain Valley Middle School in RSU 10 was the latest in his Promising Practices Tour.

Bowen began the tour on Thursday at the Roberts Farm Preserve in Norway, where he talked with Oxford Hills Middle School seventh and eighth graders about the life science and leadership skills they’re developing by participating in the farm’s experiential learning program.

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