Category: Professional Development

Graduation Reporting Opens July 1st; Webinar Available on August 1st

Reporting of 2022-2023 graduation data will open on July 1st. This report allows districts an opportunity to review and certify their graduation data. All graduation certifications are due on August 30th.

There will be a webinar on Tuesday, August 1st at 10 am regarding this report. No registration is required, the webinar link below will be live at the time of the webinar. This webinar will be recorded for district use.

Join the Graduation Reporting Webinar here (no registration required)

Report information:

For questions about data team webinars please contact Data Quality Trainer – Alexandra.Cookson@maine.gov

Maine PBIS Advanced Tiers Cohort Training Opportunity

The Maine PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) team is excited to announce applications are open for our first Advanced Tiers Cohort Training starting in fall 2023!

If your school has been implementing Tier 1 with fidelity and are ready for next steps, this opportunity is for you.

  • This two-year training sequence will lead school teams through developing the systems and practices to support positive outcomes for students with more intensive (Tier 2 and Tier 3) behavioral needs.
  • Each year will include four in-person team training days, four virtual coach meetings, and ongoing external coaching support. For more information, including application requirements and a link to our Listen & Learn presentation.

Download the flyer here

Please contact us at pbis@maine.edu if you have any questions!

The Maine Department of Education partners with the University of Maine System to provide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) training and coaching for schools and school administrative units (SAUs) throughout the state. PBIS is a multi-tiered approach to supporting the social, emotional and behavioral development of students in K-12 settings. The purpose of PBIS is to improve the social, emotional and academic outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities and students from underrepresented groups. Learn more about PBIS here.

Registration Details for the DOE’s 2023 Educator Summit 

The countdown is on for the start of the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) 2023 Educator Summit, which is being held August 7-10 at the Augusta Civic Center. Last year’s inaugural Summit attracted more than 600 educators from across the state. This year’s theme is Inspiration, Innovation, and Inclusion and participants will have access to more than 140 sessions and professional learning opportunities.

Registration is open through July 19 and can be accessed here.

Here’s a full rundown of the exciting opportunities happening during the Summit:

  • View the full Summit schedule and presentation descriptions here.  
  • School Safety Summit. The second annual School Safety Summit will be held in conjunction with the Educator Summit over all four days. All educators, administrators, school personnel, school transportation providers, school nurses and counselors, school social workers, school resource officers, local law enforcement working with schools, juvenile community corrections officers, local emergency management providers, first responders, and all stakeholders involved in school safety are welcome to participate. The safety presentations are listed within the larger Summit, but are also offered in a separate list identified by the own “button” on the Summit landing page.
  • Community Schools. Is a School-Based Health Center a Community School? What do First Ten Schools and Communities have in common with the community school model? Should Maine invest energy in the community school model for the whole student/whole educator to be realized? Whether you have never heard of community schools, are currently in a pilot plan, or are fully immersed in any form of community school, join us and have your voice become part of the vision of Maine’s community school approach. This professionally facilitated day will be interactive and highly engaging. Make sure your community is represented!
  • The Transformational Leadership Network (TLN) will be holding their 2023-2024 “kick-off” for building principals during the Summit and is an all-day event.  To have a better understanding of what the TLN is and how it can enhance your success as a building principal please click here.
  • EASE Maine Collaboration. RSU 12, RSU 24, RSU 54, RSU 73, RSU 79, AND RSU 85, Eastport School Department, Jefferson School Department, and Lewiston School Department are invited to attend this session. This session is for EASE Maine SAUs and building leadership, mental health providers, and teacher leaders who can take the knowledge gained and replicate it for your own district staff! EASE Maine SAU should have AT LEAST TWO PARTICIPANTS IN ATTENDANCE. Please select one of 2 three-hour sessions, either morning or afternoon, on Wednesday, August 9. Sessions will guide the best support possible for your mental health providers to begin the year supporting trauma-informed practices for students and school personnel. Further opportunities to connect with Advisory and Core Team EASE members will be provided.
  • Teach in Maine. The 2023 Educator Summit is also initiating an opportunity for those interested in entering the world of public education to come to the Augusta Civic Center on Thursday, August 10th from noon to 4 p.m. to receive immediate help and information regarding the certification process.
  • Poster Contest. The DOE is excited to offer an opportunity for each school and/or SAU to showcase what they have to offer to a new teacher in terms of location, activities, professional development opportunities, etc.  The theme of the contest is “Why I love living and teaching in my community.”

    To participate in this friendly competition, you must: Submit on a laminated standard poster board with pictures/art that features the best of your community. The poster must be laminated and have the following information on the back of the poster: name, number, contact information, and location of your SAU. We will be hanging these posters on the hall walls of the Civic Center to add to the experience for attendees. An award will be given to the entry that receives the most votes from attendees. The award will be announced during lunch on August 10. You can bring the poster with you to the registration table upon arrival.  DO NOT MAIL TO THE DOE.

For more information contact teri.peaslee@maine.gov.

Early Childhood C.O.A.C.H. Opportunity

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) Early Learning Team is excited to announce a new opportunity for Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers to network during the 2023-2024 school year.

Continued Outreach to Assist ChildHood (C.O.A.C.H.) Educators will meet with Early Learning Team members once a month to discuss topics related to research-based high-quality early childhood classrooms, Pre-K through Kindergarten.

Who might be interested in attending?

The focus audience for this training is educators who are new to the early childhood field in pre-k and K classrooms. This might include teachers, ed techs, assistant teachers, and childcare providers. Additionally, those who may have shifted into Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms from older grades could benefit.

When will C.O.A.C.H. Educators meet?

Virtual kickoff meeting on August 24th from 3:30-4:30 PM

Virtual one-hour meetings on the second Thursday of each month from 3:30-4:30 PM

  • September 14, 2023
  • October 12, 2023
  • November 9, 2023
  • December 14, 2023
  • January 11, 2024
  • February 8, 2024
  • March 14, 2024
  • April 11, 2024
  • May 9, 2024

Possible discussion topics

  • Implementing play strategies and interdisciplinary instruction
  • Formative assessments
  • Classroom environments
  • Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
  • Student inclusion
  • Building relationships with students
  • Family engagement
  • And more….

How can you sign up?

Complete this registration form by August 17, 2023.

Additional questions can be directed to Early Childhood Specialist, nicole.madore@maine.gov

REMINDER: 2023 Summer Symposium on Inclusive Practices for Students with Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Join the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) groups face-to-face at UMaine Orono or join via Zoom on July 21st from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm for a full day of inclusion-building topics in education centered around two strands of learning- 1) access to the curriculum and 2) quality of life. There are multiple ways of joining and learning. Get more information and register HERE now!

Contact hours are available. For more information please reach out to Anica Miller Rushing anica.miller.rushing@maine.edu.

SpiritWorks Professional Learning Opportunity

The Maine Department of Education and SpiritSeries have partnered to offer Maine educators the opportunity to join an in-person professional learning opportunity.  The SpiritWorks program is designed to increase the capacity for educators to deepen self and social awareness, a sense of belonging, and more, to strengthen their social and emotional knowledge and well-being.

Research supports the importance of educator well-being on the capacity for educators to support the well-being of students. Over two days spent at The University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus, educators will experience the SpiritWorks Model.  Over the course of the next nine months, educators will then spend 15 hours engaging with their learnings, understandings, and application of learnings from the summer institute through cycles of peer-to-peer coaching sessions, and group calls.

After participating in the 2-day institute, educators may then join the 9-month, SpiritYear program.  The institute is also available as a stand-alone summer professional learning opportunity.

The opportunity to join the institute and the 9-month cohort is open to any educator; there is no requirement to then have one’s class participate in SpiritCorps or SpiritSeries.

2-Day Summer Institute:

  • Dates: June 28 & 29
  • Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. daily
  • 15 Contact Hours Awarded, 1.5 CEUs available through USM
  • Location: University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Bailey Hall
  • Cost:  $0 – Cost is covered through Maine DOE grant funding

Discover more about this summer institute and 9 month cohort, and Register here! 

For more information: Dr. Christina O’Neal, SpiritSeries Director of Program Partnerships, coneal@spiritseries.org

Registration for Maine’s 2023 Statewide Early Childhood Education Conference is open!  

This year’s Statewide Early Childhood Education Conference has an incredible lineup of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities planned for October 27 & 28 in Portland.  Keynote speakers will be Denisha Jones, Executive Director of Defending the Early Years, and Angela Hanscom, author and founder of TimberNook. 

How to Register:  

  • Step 1: Go to maineaeyc.org/conference 
  • Step 2: Click the BIG PINK BUTTON at the top of the page that says “REGISTER” 
  • STEP 3: Follow the directions on the registration page 

Each guest must register separately and will need to have a credit/debit card number to put into the form. Administrators will only be able to register their staff one at a time, and they must have their staff’s personal contact information (i.e. home address, home email, home phone, etc.). Alternatively, administrators can email the registration form to their employees and have them each register separately. Participants will select breakout sessions for the conference at a later date.  

If you would like to book a room to stay at the Holiday Inn where the conference is being held, click on this link. When you input the conference dates at the link, you will automatically be given the room discount for conference attendees.  

If you have any questions about the conference or registration, please contact MaineAEYC at conference@maineaeyc.org 

Leading Early Learning—A Professional Learning Series for Elementary School Administrators

“Participating in the series has helped me to look at the decisions we make about our instructional programming and school community through the lens of early learning and what is developmentally appropriate for our youngest learners.”  –Quote from Cohort 1 participant

As Maine elementary schools have added preschool programming and are promoting whole student approaches across the Pre-K -Grade 3 span, elementary principals have requested professional learning to support their work as educational leaders.  The Maine Department of Education (DOE) and several Maine educational organizations (listed below) have collaborated to design an exciting professional learning series to address identified needs and support professional growth.  The Leading Early Learning series has supported cohorts during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.  We are pleased to announce the third cohort for this series will launch during the 2023-24 school year.

The series will not only provide participants with opportunity to deepen their knowledge of early learning pedagogy and best practices related to supporting students and teachers across Pre-K-3, but it will also provide a professional learning network, opportunity to design a concept for an implementation project, and be supported through facilitated discussions.  Participants will engage in a variety of modes of learning, from asynchronous modules to professional learning communities to attendance at a statewide early learning conference.

If this opportunity interests you, please review the details for the series in the informational guide.  A link to apply for the series is included in the informational guide.  The series will support up to 30 participants.  Applications will be received through July 10, 2023. Once spaces are filled, a waiting list will be generated.

For additional information, please contact Lee Anne Larsen, Director of Early Learning at Maine DOE, leeann.larsen@maine.gov.

Leading Early Learning Partner Organizations

  • Maine Department of Education
  • Maine Roads to Quality Professional Development Network
  • Maine Association for the Education of Young Children
  • UMaine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies

Register for Second Annual Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) Conference

The Maine Department of Education is proud to partner with Jobs for Maine Grads (JMG) on the Second Annual Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) Conference. This is a 2-night, 3-day intensive designed to equip educators with the skills and facilitated planning time to build or expand quality ELO programming for Maine students. Come and go as needed.

August 14-16
University of Maine at Orono

Session Leaders from all over Maine and New Hampshire will focus on topics such as:

  • Maine DOE Listening Session
  • Supporting ESOL Students
  • ELOs & Special Education
  • Apprenticeships
  • Marketing Strategies
  • Strategies for Engaging School-Based Colleagues in the Administration of ELOs
  • Leveraging ELOs to Attain Industry-Recognized Credentials
  • Various Sessions on Community Partnerships
  • ELO Data & Building presentations for School Boards
  • Aligning ELOs to college credit
  • Administrators and ELO
  • School Counselors and ELO
  • Teachers and ELO
  • Establishing a Program
  • LMS session: What the LMS can do for you?
  • Designing a Group ELO
  • Skill-Builders and Scaffolding
  • Examples Sessions on Passion Projects, Core Credit ELOs
  • Statewide Capacity/Structure
  • Maine DOE: Recognizing Credit-Bearing ELOs
  • Mini-ELOs: Stackable Learning
  • Can We? Project
  • The ELO Approach: Redefining How We Think About Curriculum Delivery
  • Maine DOE: ELOs & The Whole Student Approach

Learn more and register here.

Download the flyer (PDF)

For more information and contacts visit: https://jmg.org/extended-learning-opportunities

 

Registration Opens June 5th for Maine’s 2023 Statewide Early Childhood Education Conference

Save the Date for Maine’s 2023 Statewide Early Childhood Education Conference! The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is proud to collaborate with the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children to provide this professional learning opportunity geared to educators working across the birth to grade 3 spans. This year’s conference has an incredible lineup of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities planned for participants gathering in Portland on October 27 & 28. Keynote speakers will be Denisha Jones, Executive Director of Defending the Early Years, and Angela Hanscom, author, and founder of TimberNook.  

The call for proposals is currently open through May 31st at 5:30pm. Those interested in offering a breakout session can learn more and submit their ideas at https://maineaeyc.org/conference 

A link to register will be available on Monday, June 5th 

How to Register on June 5th:  

  • Step 1: Go to https://maineaeyc.org/conference 
  • Step 2: Click the BIG PINK BUTTON at the top of the page that says “REGISTER” 
  • STEP 3: Follow the directions on the registration page 

We can’t wait to see you in October! If you have any questions about the conference or registration, please contact MaineAEYC at conference@maineaeyc.org.