Category: Early Childhood

Nominations sought for 2017 Maine Teacher of the Year

AUGUSTA — Nominations are now open for the 2017 Maine Teacher of the Year. Members of the public are encouraged to nominate educators who demonstrate a commitment to excellence and nurturing the achievement of all students at http://www.mainetoy.org through Feb. 8. To be considered, a teacher must hold at least a four-year degree and be employed by a Maine public school – including a public charter school or publicly supported secondary school.

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Statewide Arts Education Census

The Maine DOE is collaborating with the Maine Arts Commission to establish a statewide inventory of all arts education programs and resources in the state’s 754 prekindergarten through 12th grade schools. Data collection has just begun and will continue through May 2016.

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Acting Commissioner Beardsley visits public preschool classroom

Last month, Acting Commissioner Bill Beardsley visited Brittany Kamenos’ four-year old classroom at the Chelsea Elementary School. RSU 12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle, Principal Andrew Doiron, Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation’s Executive Director Cristina Salois, Program Manager Penny Poolman, and Child Development Services Director Larry Schooley briefed the acting commissioner on the collaboration.

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Maine DOE shares expertise at community meeting

Recently, three members of Maine DOE’s Standards and Instructional Support Team presented information to a local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (an organization that promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education). The presentations were well received and have led to much discussion within that organization in the days following the meeting.

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Notice of proposed rule and rule changes: Chapters 176 and 23

The Maine DOE is proposing a repeal and replace of Chapter 23, a regulation related to the collection of staff information and Chapter 176, a new rule related to Child Development Services (CDS).

Chapter 23: The Department is repealing the original regulation of 1979. This proposal replaces the original regulation and reflects that the collection of staff information is to be done within the data collection systems rather than via forms, and will include authorized and approved personnel (in addition to certified) paid by local school systems and private schools.

Chapter 176: This rule sets forth the process whereby the Child Development Services (CDS) State Intermediate Educational Unit (SIEU) establishes a roster of independent contractors for the provision of evaluations for children with disabilities from birth to age five, early intervention services for children with disabilities from birth to age two, and special education and related services for children with disabilities age three to five; and ensures the provision of services in accordance with the contracts developed with independent contractors selected from the roster. A public hearing for this proposed rule is scheduled for Nov. 9 at 1 – 2:30 p.m. in room 600 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta.

Proposed rules and rule changes can be found here on the Department’s website. Any questions about these rulemakings can be addressed by the Department’s Jaci Holmes at 624-6669.

Continued federal funding for preschool expansion grant

The Maine DOE is pleased to announce 12 school districts have joined the Department to open or expand high-quality public preschool programs in their communities. Over $4.2 million will be distributed to the districts during the 2016-17 school year as part of the continued funding of the U.S. Department of Education’s Preschool Expansion Grant. The funds are in addition to $6.5 million that are being distributed during 2015-16 to Preschool Expansion Grant subgrantees.

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Inclusion support for preschool children with disabilities

Children with disabilities and their families continue to face significant barriers to accessing inclusive high-quality early childhood programs, and too many preschool children with disabilities are only offered the option of receiving special education services in settings separate from their peers without disabilities.

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Pilot training of a kindergarten entry assessment

Fifteen Maine kindergarten teachers spent three days last week learning how to pilot a Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) with support from a grant to the Maine DOE. The KEA has been created with input from kindergarten teachers from the start and Maine teachers’ feedback on the benefits of KEA will guide its development.

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