A WorkReady program customized for veterans will be piloted in the Casco/Naples area beginning in October. The program aims to create an opportunity for participants to network with veteran-friendly employers, discuss issues specific to vets re-entering the workplace, and feel supported in their transition back to the civilian workforce.
Continue reading “Veterans will benefit from WorkReady workforce training program”
York Middle School science teacher Jeff Wilford might annually explore the swampy wetlands of Brazil, but don’t mistake him for Indiana Jones. It’s research he wrestles, not anacondas.
Wilford admits he’s not much of an adventurer, but when the opportunity arose to partner with Earthwatch and the National Geographic Education Foundation to travel with a team of educators to the Pantanal region of Brazil in 2003, Wilford dusted off his pith helmet.
Since 2006, Wilford has returned to explore the Pantanal each summer with students from York High School.
“We wanted to give students a real dose of what it means to be a biologist in a remote and challenged region of the world,” Wilford explained. “As well, we have strived to create an unmatched cultural experience.”
Continue reading “York student explorers join global collaboration in Brazil”
For the first time ever, students from Maine competed in the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held this year in Pittsburgh, Penn. Meagan Currie of Greely High School in Cumberland and Sam Wood of Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham traveled with their teacher/mentors and parents to represent Maine at this competition.
Continue reading “High school students compete in international science fair”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this release contained the wrong LD number and linked to the wrong bill for the second item below, LD 1779. It has been corrected.
Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen issued the following statement Thursday following legislative approval on Wednesday of several key education bills, including: LD 1422, which requires that the state’s public schools transition to a proficiency-based diploma; LD 1779, which moves Maine career and technical education programs toward the full adoption of national industry standards; and LD 1865, which makes it easier for students to access career and technical education courses.
Students taking video production, visual and performing arts, sound engineering and other multimedia courses at career and technical education centers across Maine regularly take assessments to determine whether they’ve mastered the course expectations.
Soon, multimedia students won’t be taking just any test, but an assessment that tests their mastery of the skills considered important by the businesses that might some day employ them. And their teachers will have had a hand in developing the test.
Continue reading “CTE instructors contribute to national career readiness tests”
The Maine Legislature’s Education Committee held a public hearing March 13 on legislation that would make it easier for high school students to take courses at Career and Technical Education schools, and to get credit for those courses from their own high schools and community colleges.
Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen delivered the following testimony supporting LD 1865, An Act to Enhance Career and Technical Education. Continue reading “Bowen testifies in support of career, technical bill”
AUGUSTA – The Legislature’s Education Committee will take up legislation today that would make it easier for high school students to take courses at Career and Technical Education schools, and to get credit for those courses from their own high schools and community colleges.
Continue reading “Bill would increase access to career and technical education”
Note: This dispatch was updated on March 7 at 4:57 p.m. to update information about public hearings.
Bill language is now available for four pieces of education-related legislation proposed this winter by Gov. Paul LePage.
Continue reading “Bill language released for education proposals”
Career and technical education is preparing Maine’s students to succeed in college, careers and civic life by equipping them with the skills they need to enter high-demand fields that are critical to the state’s economic future.
The following is a press release from the Office of Gov. Paul LePage
New legislation “puts students first”
AUGUSTA – Governor Paul LePage unveiled his education legislative agenda on Wednesday at the Somerset Career and Technical Education Center in Skowhegan. With the automotive shop as the backdrop, the Governor and Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen described four pieces of legislation that advance the work of designing an education system around student needs.
Continue reading “Gov. LePage, Commissioner Bowen announce new education initiatives”
Maine DOE Newsroom 