Free Training, Technical Assistance, Equipment and Materials for Public Preschool Programs

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) has received a grant from the US Education Department to support public preschool teachers, special educators, principals and special education directors on providing high quality classroom environments and inclusion practices for 4 year-olds.

Thr program is being offered through Maine Roads to Quality Professional Development Network (MRTQ PDN) a University of Maine System partnership between University of Southern Maine (USM) and University of Maine (UMaine) that includes the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS) which has expertise in providing training and technical assistance on inclusionary practices.

Maine Roads to Quality and Maine’s Early Childhood Professional Development Network will contract with Maine DOE to provide online training and technical assistance to 3 cohorts of 15 participants each, representing both rural and urban regions of the state.

This project will serve as a pilot to help Maine DOE gather information on what schools need to best support all preschool age children including those with special needs and disabilities.

Upon completion of training and technical assistance, each public preschool classroom teacher who has participated will receive $3000 in mini-grants for materials and supplies to support high quality preschool inclusionary environments.

Schools or districts must participate in teams that include a public preschool teacher(s) and administrators. The purpose of team participation is to ensure consistent understanding and application of the course content so that high quality inclusive practices will be supported and sustained. Both teachers and administrators will receive certificates of contact hours which support certification renewal and/or local professional development requirements.

For more information view the application document or contact Sue Reed at Susan.D.Reed@maine.gov.

Preschool Application for the 2018-2019 School Year

The application for all public preschool new and/or expanding programs is now available on our website http://www.maine.gov/doe/publicpreschool/establishing/index.html

The deadline for completion is April 30, 2018. To view the application in its entirety before filling it out can be done by accessing the PDF copy, also available on the website. Please note, this version appears much longer as it shows every question offered to applicants. Depending on your individual answers, you may or may not be redirected.

For clarification, those that completed the fall survey regarding their desire to open or expand a preschool program must complete this application for approval. No program will be approved without this and the supporting documentation requested.

Chapter 124: Basic Approval Standards: Public Preschool Programs is also available for review at the above link.

Any questions regarding this process should be directed to Nicole Madore at 624-6677 or Nicole.madore@maine.gov

Fostering Artful Early Childhood Classrooms

The Maine Department of Education invites you to be part of an exciting professional development opportunity, “Fostering Artful Early Childhood Classrooms”. Early Childhood Specialist, Sue Reed and Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, Beth Lambert are looking for teachers who want to energize their teaching and learning through focusing on art in the public preschool classroom. Applicants must apply in teams of two: one Public Preschool teacher and one Visual Art teacher from the same district. The Visual Arts teacher must currently teach at the elementary level.

Under the expertise of Early Childhood facilitator, Terri Petnov, and Early Childhood Arts facilitator, Judy Fricke, teams will work on building a collaborative partnership to ensure that preschool students receive an artful learning experience. Public preschool teachers will learn the research as to why art is important in a preschool classroom and how it encompasses Maine’s Early Learning and Development Standards and how to include art into their daily routines. Visual Art teachers will learn developmentally appropriate pedagogical approaches to teaching art to our youngest learners. As a culmination of their work, participants will create a presentation to share with their school community.

The training is free and each team selected will receive $500 worth of equipment and supplies for their classroom. These training will be offer in three regions of the state on the following dates:

Northern cohort at the University of Maine, Presque Isle campus (Nov. 17^th, Feb. 15^th, April 12^th)
Central cohort at Educare in Waterville (Nov. 7^th, Feb. 6^th, April 3^rd)
Southern cohort at Southern Maine Community College ( 3^rd, February 9^th, April 6^th)

If you are interested in participating fill out an application using the links listed above. Only one application is necessary per team. If you have any questions contact Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, Beth Lambert or Early Childhood Specialist, Sue Reed.

Fostering Music and Movement in Early Childhood Classrooms

The Maine Department of Education invites you to be part of a brand new professional development opportunity, “Fostering Music and Movement in Early Childhood Classrooms”. Early Childhood Specialist, Sue Reed, and Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, Beth Lambert, are looking for teachers who want to energize their teaching and learning through focusing on music and movement in the public preschool classroom. Applicants must apply in teams of two: one Public Preschool teacher and one music or performing arts teacher from the same district. The music/performing arts teacher must currently teach at the elementary level.

Under the expertise of Early Childhood facilitator, Ellie Libby, and Early Childhood Arts facilitator, Judy Fricke, teams will work on building a collaborative partnership to ensure that preschool students receive a musical and movement filled learning experience. Public preschool teachers will learn the research as to why music and movement is important in a preschool classroom and how it encompasses Maine’s Early Learning and Development Standards and how to include music and movement into their daily routines. Music and performing arts teachers will learn developmentally appropriate pedagogical approaches to teaching music and movement to our youngest learners. Teams will be expected to practice new pedagogy in between sessions and document their experience. As a culmination of their work, participants will create a presentation to share with their school community.

The training is free and each team selected will receive $650 worth of equipment and supplies for their classroom. The cohort will meet at Educare in Waterville on October 17^th, January 10^th, March 6^th, and May 15^th 8:30-3pm.

If you are interested in participating fill out an application. Only one application is necessary per team. If you have any questions contact Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, Beth Lambert at beth.lambert@maine.gov or Early Childhood Specialist, Sue Reed at susan.d.reed@maine.gov.

Public Preschool Funding 2018-19

The Maine State Legislature has provided start-up funding in FY19 state budget for public school districts to begin new or expand preschool classrooms.

The Maine Department of Education requires information from school districts anticipating starting new or expanding current public preschool programs in 2018-19. Expanded programs are those in SAUs that currently run approved public preschool(s) and want to add another classroom(s).

In order to be included in the state start-up preschool funding count, you must complete this survey NO LATER than Tuesday, October 31, 2017.

Please estimate high for anticipated preschool enrollment so that the Maine DOE may budget accordingly. Prek counts may not exceed district kindergarten enrollment as of October 1, 2017.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PreKStart-upFunds

This survey is only meant to capture the level of interest in accessing funding provided by the Legislature and does not guarantee funding.

For more information please contact Sue Reed at 624-6632 or susan.d.reed@maine.gov

Important clarification for districts with public preschool and Head Start collaborations

Chapter 124: Basic Approval Standards for Public Preschool Programs is fully in effect as of July 1, 2017, and there is a need to clarify the roles and responsibilities of school nurses and Head Start health services staff in order to meet both Head Start program, and Maine Department of Education standards.

Specifically, public school nurses and teachers as well as Head Start health services staff must know that all of the health requirements for each party are being met while not duplicating services.

The Maine Department of Education has collaborated with State Head Start representatives and Child Development Services to create a sample Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for public schools that collaborate with Head Start to deliver 4-year old programs. The MOA outlines what is required for each program and allows partners on the local level to decide who is will be responsible.

This “Health Services Memorandum of Agreement” may be used as an addendum to the SAU/Head Start Memorandum of Understanding that is required in partnerships.

The Health Services MOA includes all the requirements of both Head Start and Chapter 124; Head Start is responsible for the additional federal requirements. However, it is important to note who will take responsibility for the overlapping requirements. It also outlines who will create the individual health plan, train in medication management as well as how information will be shared.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact one of the following:

Emily Poland, RN, School Nurse Consultant at emily.poland@maine.gov or 207-624-6688, or Sue Reed, Early Childhood Specialist at susan.d.reed@maine.gov or 207-624-6632.

Fostering Artful Classrooms for Early Childhood Students a Great Success

Five school districts participated in a professional development pilot from the Maine Department of Education this year to learn how to improve visual art offerings to public preschool students. Visual art and early childhood teachers from RSU 10, Lewiston School District, Glenburn School Department, MSAD 58 (Phillips), and MSAD 53 (Pittsfield) attended in teams for training three times during the 2016-2017 schoolyear. Guided during these session by early childhood expert, Terri Petnov, and early childhood arts specialist, Judy Fricke, teachers built collaborative partnerships as they broadened their skills in 2-D, 3-D, and Fiber Arts, as well as developmentally appropriate teaching for preschoolers. Both teachers learned strategies to be used in both in the early childhood classroom and the art room. This program was sponsored by Early Childhood Specialist, Sue Reed, and Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, Beth Lambert.

The training was aligned to Maine’s Early Learning and Development Standards and supported by research on the importance of art education being available every day in the early childhood classroom. Over the course of the three workshop days, teams learned a variety of visual art techniques and became more comfortable integrating art education into the other learning domains to support knowledge and development.

Here are some of the comments teachers had at the end of the experience:

“Children have become more engaged and have developed stamina to create and finish a project. It has created a calming effect on my room,” Lori Fowler, Preschool Teacher, Montello Elementary School.

“The collaboration and teamwork I now have with my art teacher has brought about valuable changes in my planning and instruction awareness of how the arts can connect and strengthen student learning opportunities,” Vicky Grotton, Preschool Teacher, Glenburn Elementary School.

“The value of this training, for me, was in learning the true and genuine connection between the arts and achievement across the curriculum. The foundation of learning and whole-student enrichment are clearest in prek, but persist throughout the entire academic career,” Adam Masterman, Art Teacher, SAD 58.

“(The prek teacher and I) have worked together to create a new space in her classroom where students are completely independent and encourage exploring materials…. I have gone into their classroom and taught lessons and group projects that would not be possible in my space,“ Karen Thayer, Art Teacher, RSU 10.

Due to the tremendous success of this pilot, the Maine Department of Education is exploring funding options to expand this training statewide during the 2017-2018 schoolyear as well as develop and offer music and performing arts in the early childhood classroom training.

For more information on this pilot you can visit our website http://www.maine.gov/doe/arts/ecevpa.html.

For more information on Early Childhood Education contact, Sue Reed, susan.d.reed@maine.gov . For more information about Visual and Performing Arts Education, contact, Beth Lambert, beth.lambert@maine.gov.

Maine DOE’s Early Childhood Education Conference

Registration is now open for the Maine DOE’s Early Childhood Education Conference. The conference will be held at the Augusta Civic Center on August 14-16, 2017 and is intended for PreK and Kindergarten early childhood staff and administrators.

There are two training tracks to choose from and space is limited:

1. Building Blocks PreK Curriculum Training Track ($250.00) 3 days – this training session is appropriate for PreK teachers and Ed Techs and also for Kindergarten teachers that may be interested in understanding the PreK math curriculum for building alignment.
2. STEAM Training Track ($50.00) 2 days – This track is appropriate for any PreK or Kindergarten teacher.

Continental breakfast and lunch are provided each day as part of the conference registration.

Financial Aid is available.

For more information contact Maine DOE’s Early Childhood Specialist Sue Reed at susan.d.reed@maine.gov or 624-6632.

Public Preschool Annual Report due July 31

The Maine DOE is reminding school administrative units that have created or expanded a public preschool program within the past two years (2015-16 or 2016-17) to complete the Public Preschool Annual Report by July 31, 2017. The report can be found here.

This year’s report has been shortened to gather only the most pertinent information from Maine’s public preschool programs.

Please note this report is not required from SAUs with programs existing prior to 2015 or those who completed the Public Preschool Application by the March 31 deadline.

If you have questions about the survey or to inquire if your SAU is required to complete it, please contact Maine DOE’s Early Childhood Program Monitor Nicole Madore at nicole.madore@maine.gov or at 624-6677.

Maine DOE recommendations for dyslexia screening

In accordance with 20-A M.R.S. §4710-B, the Maine Department of Education recommends universal screening for all K-2 children. The law pertains to screening children K-2 for traits indicating that the child may be at-risk for difficulty learning to read, it is not a diagnostic assessment. The intent is to identify at-risk children so that they may receive early evidence-based intervention known to help children with SLD/dyslexia.

There is a list of suggested screening tools available on the Maine DOE website, along with other useful information about dyslexia, resources and frequently asked questions.

Maine Unified Special Education Regulations (MUSER) has long recognized dyslexia as a Specific Learning Disability [MUSER VII (2) (L)], consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (20 U.S.C. 1401) and the Federal Regulations (34 CFR 300.8) which implement the IDEA Law. However, there has been confusion regarding the use of the term, dyslexia. Consequently, in 2015 Michael Yudin, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) issued a, “Dear Colleague” letter specifying that nothing in IDEA or the implementing regulations prohibits the inclusion of the condition that forms the basis for the child’s disability determination in the child’s IEP. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/guidance-on-dyslexia-10-2015.pdf.

If you have further questions regarding dyslexia or 20-A M.R.S. §4710-B, please contact Lisa Whitis, MEd, JD, Maine DOE Dyslexia Coordinator at Lisa.Whitis@maine.gov or 624-6643.