Category: Data Management

Topsham school recognized for high student performance

This week, the Department was proud to announce that one of the Maine schools we had nominated had been selected as a National Blue Ribbon School.

The Williams-Cone School in Topsham was one of 236 public schools nationwide named by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan into this prestigious program that recognizes schools where students perform at very high levels or show significant improvements in closing achievement gaps.

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Revised special education EF-S-03 form available

The EF-S-03 form for contract approval for special education services has been updated to include categories of service providers listed in Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Birth to Age Twenty (MUSER) that were not listed on the form, including those from the most recent updates to MUSER. The form, which is due Oct. 15, also requires a more precise identification of the funding source for these services.

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Report of Services to Students with Disabilities (EF-S-05 Parts 1 & 2) due Dec. 31

School administrative units (SAUs) should begin preparing data for the EF-S-05, which includes Part 1: Special Education Child Count, as well as Part 2, Sections A and B: Report of Special Education Personnel Employed, Contracted and Needed.  Continue reading “Report of Services to Students with Disabilities (EF-S-05 Parts 1 & 2) due Dec. 31” →

Educator Quality and Effectiveness Survey past due

The June 15 original deadline and June 30 extended deadline for the completion of the annual Educator Quality Effectiveness Survey have both passed. If your school district has not yet completed the survey, please do so without delay to ensure timely collection of this annual American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-required education reform assurance compliance reporting.

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Affirming Maine’s commitment to high standards, implemented locally

As you may have seen in the press, some concerns and questions have been raised recently about the Common Core standards in math and ELA, which the State incorporated into its Learning Results standards in 2011. Many of those concerns seem to stem from suspicions that the Common Core is an attempt by the federal government to influence education policy in the states and, as a consequence, that the adoption of these standards will diminish Maine’s longstanding tradition of local control as it regards things like curricula and instructional approaches. Continue reading “Affirming Maine’s commitment to high standards, implemented locally” →

Governor LePage signs Executive Order protecting local control, student privacy

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage signed an executive order today affirming Maine’s commitment to protecting local education control and student privacy rights.

The Governor’s action prohibiting the influence of the federal government into Maine’s education policy comes after parents and educators have raised concerns about the Obama Administration’s attempts to hijack successful state-led education reforms, including more rigorous, relevant standards in mathematics and English language arts Maine voluntarily adopted in common with other states in 2011.

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Maine assessments updates

The 26 states of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, of which Maine is one, are on target to administer the first Smarter Balanced assessment in spring 2015. That gives teachers and students the 2013-14 school year and most of the 2014-15 school year to prepare for the new assessments. You and your students (and their parents, too) can try out the practice tests online to experience what the new test will be like. Smarter Balanced will be administered via computer, a change that serves Maine well given the Maine Learning Technology Initiative has helped our students and educators become national leaders in computer readiness.

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