Category: Early Childhood

2014-15 school year: We’re in this together

Congratulations on the start of the 2014-15 school year!

This week, Maine students are fortunate to be heading back to schools where they will be welcomed by educators who encourage their love of learning and are deeply dedicated to ensuring every one of them is successful.

On behalf of Governor LePage and all of us at the Department, I want to thank those teachers, administrators and other school staff for their care for and commitment to our students. Maine kids are increasingly being inspired in their classrooms and achievement in their studies is rising as a result, putting them on a path for future college and career success.

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9/11 Remembrance lesson plans available

The Corporation for National and Community Service is sharing free lesson plans focused on teaching 9/11 to children to bring the message of service and remembrance into the classroom. The plans are created by 9/11 Day, the nation’s largest annual day of charitable engagement, and provide teacher-inspired ideas for projects and activities for students.

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CDS staff completes routines-based interview training

The Child Development Services team is pleased to announce that, as of June 30th, the Part C staff at all 9 regional CDS sites has completed the Routines-Based Interview (RBI) training and will soon begin putting into practice what they have learned. Within a few months, all CDS Part C staff will have conducted several practice RBI’s with families and have their skills at conducting RBI’s assessed by a state-certified RBI trainer to ensure fidelity and functionality.

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State releases 2014 report cards, congratulates high performing and high progress schools

The rollout of the report cards at www.maine.gov/doe comes as Education Commissioner Jim Rier completes a statewide tour celebrating the many Maine schools that improved by at least one letter grade

AUGUSTA – The 2014 school report cards are out and certificates of achievement signed by Governor Paul R. LePage and Education Commissioner Jim Rier are in the mail for 121 schools that earned an A or B grade.

Dozens of schools that demonstrated high levels of student growth over the past year will also receive a certificate and a letter recognizing their success in better serving all students.

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Report cards can provide learning opportunities

In a few hours, the 2014 school report cards will be made available to the public via the Department’s Education Data Warehouse.

Meanwhile, I am spending the day visiting elementary schools in South Hiram and Gorham that have each seen a two-letter grade gain since last year’s report card was released. The grading system certainly can’t be credited for those increases, but it has helped to surface success stories that can inform the improvement work happening at so many of our schools.

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Collaborative conversations vehicle for building knowledge

Imagine yourself observing a rich dialogue between students about an article they have been reading.  The students, seated in small groupings, are actively asking questions, expressing opinions, posing hypotheses and returning to the text for evidence to support their ideas. These types of conversations exemplify productive talk that supports deeper learning.  Continue reading “Collaborative conversations vehicle for building knowledge” →

Literacy for ME releases community literacy resources

The Maine DOE has developed new informational brochures and videos designed to help community literacy teams across the state educate parents and the public about literacy development and empower them with simple ways in which they can support literacy education. Continue reading “Literacy for ME releases community literacy resources” →