Reminder: Register now for 2018 Commissioner’s Conference – session highlights available

The 2018 Commissioner’s Conference will be held at the Augusta Civic Center on Wednesday, June 27th and Thursday, June 28, 2018. The Maine DOE has been working closely with Maine School Management Association (MSMA) to ensure that this year’s sessions meet the needs of attendees – see conference highlights below.

Find additional resources and information including pricing, a draft agenda, lodging options, further details about registration, including guest registration, and more on the Maine DOE Commissioner’s Conference webpage.

Register now »

Conference Highlights

Fulfilling the Dream of a Prosperous Maine
Duke Albanese, Commissioner’s Conference Keynote

“Fulfilling the Dream of a Prosperous Maine: Getting There Requires a Focus on Education and Effective Leadership for Learning, Citizenship, and Opportunities for All Maine Students”

Finding widespread prosperity has been difficult for our state. Although Maine presents abundant opportunities to thrive and prosper as individuals and communities, pockets of vibrancy have often been limited even during the best of times. To turn the tide and make our state a great place to live and prosper, high quality education is the key. We have the scale and wherewithal to build a world-class early childhood through higher education system focused on equity and enriching learning opportunities for all students. What we need to achieve this is strong, effective, creative, and resourceful leadership. Can Maine do it? Yes. Who will lead?

Duke Albanese will serve as Commissioner Keynote, in addition to conducting a break-out session.

Cracker-Barrel Session
Commissioner Hasson and Maine DOE staff

Come to this informal session and get a chance to talk one-on-one with Commissioner Hasson and Maine DOE staff, including Department leadership. The Department will also have available some insider updates for superintendents.

Certification: What You Need to Know
Maine DOE staff

This session will provide participants with a review of important changes resulting from recent revisions to certification laws; clarification on common misconceptions about certification requirements and processes; an opportunity to discuss communication strategies for certification; and a question and answer segment on the new online system.

Legislative Update
Maine DOE Staff

The Maine Legislature adjourned its Second Regular Session sine die on May 2, 2018. While education bills remain, including LD 1869 –”An Act To Establish the Total Cost of Education and the State and Local Contributions to Education for Fiscal Year 2018-19 and To Provide That Employees of School Management and Leadership Centers Are Eligible To Participate in the Maine Public Employees Retirement System”—which are preserved to be carried over to any special session of the 128^th Legislature, others were passed and became law are either in effect now as emergency legislation, or will become law on Wednesday, August 1. This session will include a summary of enacted educated-related legislation, the status of bills preserved by the joint order, and a progress report on the status of rulemaking.

Open Forum: Addressing the Teacher Shortage
Open Forum lead by DOE staff

What can Maine do to address the teacher shortage while strengthening our educator workforce? In this open forum session, we will discuss barriers to teacher retention and recruitment and what is being done across the state to overcome these obstacles. Together we will collaborate on ways that all stakeholders can work together to build our educator workforce and promote the teaching profession.

Put your Collaborative Project on the Regionalization Map
Maine DOE staff

During this session, participants will learn about the EMBRACE II initiatives, including lessons learned; be introduced to the process of forming a regional service center; learn about the upcoming grant opportunity offered by the Fund for the Efficient Delivery of Educational Services (FEDES); brainstorm possible regionalized services and programs; and have an opportunity for questions and answers.

We Have Formed a Regional Service Center: Now What?
Maine DOE staff

During this session, participants will provide input for the Department as to what regional service centers and executive directors need for support; gain an understanding of the monitoring and reporting requirements for a regional service center; receive legislative updates that directly impact regional service centers and their funding; and have an opportunity for questions and answers.

Panel: Preparing Kids for Maine’s Workforce
Maine DOE staff and panel of industry representatives

What are employers looking for? What are students prepared to offer? What can Career and Technical Education (CTE) provide for industry and students? In this session, a panel of industry representatives will share what they look for in an employee. We will discuss and seek ideas for how Maine’s CTE programs can help create more opportunities for students and meet workforce needs.

PreK with Staying Power!
Maine DOE staff

High quality prek has great potential; but research shows that to truly lessen the achievement gap, certain program elements must be present before kindergarten or the gains will “fade out” in the early elementary grades. What are the goals for a prek program in your district? Are you seeing these goals realized in child outcomes over time? Come hear about the prek programs that include the research-based elements and the end-of-prek outcome data that predicts 5^th grade reading, writing, and math scores.

Improving K-3 Literacy Achievement by Building Teacher Knowledge
Maine DOE MoMEntum staff and educators from pilot schools

The Department is implementing an early literacy/technology learning pilot project, MoMEntum K-3 Literacy, in schools located regionally across Maine. This initiative provides high-quality professional learning to build teacher knowledge and skills to impact student learning. This session will provide an overview of the initiative; details about the professional learning, including intentional instruction, opportunities for student practice, technology integration, and assessment that informs ongoing instruction; preliminary findings related to student achievement; and lessons learned so far. During this panel discussion, participants will have the chance to hear from and ask questions of those leading the program as well as participating educators and school leaders.

Closing the Achievement Gap with Early Math Education
Maine DOE staff

Two years of assessing current state data shows an increasing gap in the percent of grade 3-5 students statewide who meet or achieve state expectations in mathematics as compared to ELA/literacy. The Maine Department of Education is embarking on a new initiative called the Numeracy4ME K-4 Mathematics Pilot program, in schools located regionally across Maine. This initiative provides high-quality professional learning to build teacher knowledge and skills to impact student learning of mathematics. This session will provide an overview of the initiative, including details about structure of the professional learning, the focus on numeracy concepts, and implications for PK-4 learning and assessment applicable to all schools.

Work Session: 2018/19 School Approval Requirements & Process
Maine DOE staff

This session will provide guidance on the 2018-19 school/district approval requirements and the new more streamlined process in the Department’s NEO system. Superintendents will have the opportunity to begin completing the approval process at this session – bring your laptops.

Open Forum: Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth
Maine DOE staff

This session will provide district leaders an opportunity to share their PEPG triumphs and tribulations. Do you have a strategy that is working well in your district that you would like to share with others? Do you have a need for greater support in certain areas such as observations and feedback? Is your school or district interested in improving the quality of the Student Learning Objectives? Participation, creative strategies, and a willingness to share is encouraged in this session!

Raising the Bar for Technology in Maine Schools
Jim Moulton, Apple Inc.

How do we help our students learn today and prepare them for a rapidly changing world? A driving force behind this change is technology. It affects the way we communicate, the way we work, the way we live day-to-day. It also empowers every individual—and every learner—to create amazing things and make a difference in the world. But first, we need to raise the bar for what’s expected, and what’s possible, for learning with technology.

Substance Abuse Resources
Maine Center for Disease Control

The presentation will provide an overview of Maine Prevention services, specifically substance and tobacco use prevention including electronic nicotine delivery systems/vaping to school leaders. The information provided will be useful for school administrators as they consider policies, practices and education necessary to protect and optimize the health and safety of students. Materials, resources and a list of community prevention providers who can support school prevention efforts will be available at this presentation.

Elevating Concussion Education: How to Address Everyone
Maine Concussion Management Initiative (MCMI), Colby College

As schools prepare for the start of each year, it’s the perfect time to update concussion education. To ensure that head injury is addressed with each population in the district, MCMI has tailored plans to educate all stakeholders. Everyone in your district will benefit from tailored and current concussion information. Attend this session to learn more about how to get involved.

Other possible sessions:

Steve Levesque, and Glenn Cummings – Educating the Workforce Panel
Adult Education
Budget Methodology of State/Local Funds for ESEA
ESSA: School Improvement for All
Early Math Education
Post-secondary enrollment and credentialing options
Truancy
Trauma

MEDIA ADVISORY: MLTI Student Conference to be held on May 24th at UMaine

What:
The 15th annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) Student Conference is once again bringing Maine students together for hands-on learning with technology.

Who:
Over 1000 Maine middle school and high school students, and their teachers

Where/When:
Thursday, May 24, 2018
University of Maine, Orono Campus
8:40 am – Opening/Student Keynote (Collins Center for the Arts )
1:10 pm – Closing “Uber” session (Collins Center for the Arts )
Breakout sessions all day (throughout the Campus – Sessions by Location Quick Guide)

Schedule Highlights:
Between 8 am and 8:45 am, school busses unload hundreds of excited students and adults who grab conference T-shirts and file into the Hutchins Concert Hall, where the Ballroom Thieves and the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra provide a musical welcome.

8:45 am – After Brief Welcome by DOE, UMaine and Apple representatives,
Student Keynote Speaker Nicole Pendleton, an 8^th-grader from Camden-Rockport Middle School, takes the stage, followed by a professional reflection by Andrew Johnson, VP of Business Development at Ai2.

2 Blocks of Hands-on Learning Sessions: Visit classrooms where students are demonstrating and learning how to create in a variety of ways – through coding, audio, video, images, text and more.

1:10 pm – “Uber” session in the Hutchins Concert Hall at the Collins Center for the Arts – Over 1000 students and adults participate in a group music project using their laptops and tablets, guided by the Ballroom Thieves and the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra

For more information visit:

Members of the media are welcome to attend. For further questions contact, Maine DOE Director of Communications Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov or call 624-6747.

Summer professional development opportunities for social studies teachers

This summer the Maine Department of Education is hosting three different professional development opportunities for social studies teachers including sessions specific to elementary teachers. The eleven dates range from June to August in five locations around the state to give everyone a chance to join us!

See below for more information or to register. Contact the DOE Social Studies Specialist Joe Schmidt (joe.schmidt@maine.gov) with any questions.

Summer Symposium:

A group of teachers have been working with me throughout this school year to learn more about best practices in social studies and how to incorporate those practices into their classrooms. These teachers have completed their last session and some are looking to provide FREE regional professional development opportunities to share their learning and experiences. With teachers from Portland to the County, there is the potential for a training to take place near you!

The Dover-Foxcroft Symposium will take place from 8:30am-12:00pm at SeDoMoCha Middle School on Friday, June 29th. Click HERE to register.
The Poland Summer Symposium will take place from 8:30am-12:00pm at Bruce M. Whittier Middle School on Friday, August 17th. Click HERE to register.

Forum 2017: Inquiry – LAST CALL!

For those that were unable to attend Forum 2017: Inquiry last summer, I am going to hold one last FREE session before moving on to Forum 2018: Disciplinary Literacy (see below). Forum 2017: Inquiry LAST CALL will take place in Augusta at the Cross Building on June 28th from 9am to 4:00pm. Click HERE to register. Participants will have the opportunity to win door prizes!

Forum 2018: Disciplinary Literacy

Are you interested in learning more about DISCIPLINARY LITERACY in the social studies classroom? Join the Maine DOE Social Studies Forum 2018 in August with sessions in Augusta, Bangor, Portland, and Presque Isle. Each location will have one day focused on pK-6 Elementary teachers and one day focused on 6-12 Secondary teachers.

*NOTE* You will only need to attend one session as the elementary/secondary sessions are not sequential and the four locations will have the same training.

This FREE workshop will walk teachers through current research about disciplinary literacy in social studies, provide resources to examine current practices, and provide time and support for the creation of your own unit that can be used in the upcoming school year. Teachers are encouraged to bring members of your department/district and use the day to update current units of instruction with research based best practices. See below for locations and dates and click HERE to register. Participants will have the opportunity to win door prizes!

Presque Isle/UMPI – 8/6-8/7
Portland/Maine Historical Society – 8/14-8/15
Augusta/Cross Building – 8/21-8/22
Orono/UMO – 8/28-8/29

For more information or questions contact, Joe Schmidt, Social Studies Specialist for the Maine Department of Education at (207) 624-6828 or joe.schmidt@maine.gov

The Maine Event: Fostering Equity and Justice for Youth conference, June 28-29 in Bangor

The Positive Youth Development Institute and the Collaboration for Perpetual Innovation has a premiere staff development opportunity for educators, youth serving professionals, and volunteers.

This locally organized, national conference will address education equity and justice issues paramount to adults and students. Presentations will focus on student voice and choice, new approaches to discipline, and school-wide practices of inclusion for all students. The content will be linked school climate, bullying prevention, discipline disparities, and requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Keynote presenters will be Shakti Butler, PhD, President and Founder of World Trust Educational Services, Inc.; Michael D. Clark, MSW, Director of the Center for Strength-Based Strategies; and the cast of Maine Inside Out, in their performance, Love is Alternatives to Incarceration.

In addition, full-day training opportunities are available on June 27, including:

Youth Mental Health First Aid (NAMI: Maine)
Nurturing Social Trust Through Meaningful Dialogue (Cindy Carraway-Wilson, Youth Catalytics)
Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools (Kathleen Guarino, American Institutes for Research)
Programs that Matter: Positive Outcomes Through Proven Practices (Margaret Jones, Maine Afterschool Network & Bolster Collaborative)

A discount provided by PYDI-CPI is available for teams of five or more from the same school district.

For more information about The Maine Event: Fostering Equity and Justice for Youth, visit the conference website here.

For questions related to the conference, contact Donna Duffey, Conference Manager at 800-294-4322 or duffey.donna47@gmail.com, or Sarah Ricker, Maine DOE Student Assistance Coordinator at sarah.ricker@maine.gov or 207-624-6685.

Looking for Educator Leaders who are “Designing for Learning with Technology”

The Learning Through Technology team at the Department of Education is looking for educator leaders! The theme for next year is: “Designing for Learning with Technology.” We want educators to learn from other educators and to build a network of educators who can leverage technology to get to better learning outcomes for all students.

There are a variety of different opportunities to lead: online learning facilitators; leaders of learning labs, dine and designs, and regional events; and creators of digital artifacts (blogs, short videos, webinars, etc.). More information about each position, stipends, and contact hours can be found here: http://maine.gov/doe/mlti/educatorleadership/index.html

Applications are due June 4th by 12:00pm and can be found here: http://maine.gov/doe/mlti/educatorleadership/index.html

A webinar will be available to go over these opportunities and answer any questions folks might have as they complete applications:

Thursday, May 17th, from 3:30-4:30pm

To join via video conference: https://zoom.us/j/934994748
To join via phone: 1-408-638-0968 (Meeting ID: 934 994 748)

The Department is looking for a wide-variety of educators to be leaders from:

regions across the state
all different content areas
all different grade levels.

We would like representation from each of the different educator roles – for example:

administrators
teachers
librarians
technology integrators

The Department would like to hear from educators who have:

created environments where innovative teaching and learning can thrive,
leveraged technology to make sure all students can participate in the learning to their fullest potential
shown the generosity of spirit to share their work with others
inspired others as they design learning opportunities for their own students.

Please share this opportunity with other educators!

For further information or questions, please reach out to Amanda.Nguyen@maine.gov

LTT Educator Leader Poster v.5

Computer Science Day: Save the date and invitation to present

The Maine Department of Education, Maine State Library, and Project Login are partnering to host Computer Science Day this summer. The event will be open to the public, applications for presentations are now being accepted.

Date: Monday, August 13th from 9am – 4pm

Location: Maine State House (Hall of Flags), Maine State Library (Atrium), and Various Committee Rooms in the Maine State House

Attendees: Open to the public

Activities: Attendees can join presentations, hear from panelists from multiple industries, and visit booths with hands-on learning opportunities

Topics that will be explored include: What is Computer Science? What is it not? Where do we see it both in Maine and in our everyday lives? What is the skill set our students need to be successful in an evolving workforce that is coming to rely more and more on Computer Science? How can we foster more partnerships, collaboration, and access to resources between educators, non-profits and businesses? What resources exist to help educators integrate computer science into their teaching and learning practice?

Presenters: K-12 schools, Higher Education, Businesses with Employees Engaged in Computer Science Work, Non-Profits, Informal Learning Providers, Companies that have Computer Science Education Products, etc.

If you are interested in presenting at Computer Science Day, please submit the following application by June 4th, 2018!

Application to present: http://bit.ly/csday2018presenters

For more information or questions, contact any of the following event organizers:

Amanda Nguyen, Maine Department of Education, Digital Learning Specialist (Amanda.Nguyen@maine.gov)
Jamie Ritter, Maine State Library, Maine State Librarian, (James.Ritter@maine.gov)
Jason Judd, Educate Maine, Program Director, Project>Login (jason@educatemaine.org)

Concussion training program to be held June 22

Concussion training for school staff has been a requirement since 2012 pursuant to 20-A MRS § 1001. The Department of Education has partnered with the Maine Concussion Management Initiative (MCMI) as well as the Maine Principals’ Association to promote policy development, trainings for staff, and increased awareness and improved management of concussions.

MCMI will be holding a training program on June 22 in Waterville at Colby College. It is appropriate for athletic administrators/directors, school nurses, coaches, athletic trainers, physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. More information and instructions for registration can be found at: https://mcmi-colby.org/page-18087

For more information contact MCMI – Membership and Education Committee – Chair Jan Salis at jsalis@aol.com (207) 577-201.

Registration for 2018 School Nurse Summer Institute is now open

Registration for 2018 School Nurse Summer Institute is now open. This year’s theme is, “The 21^st Century School Nurse: Making a Difference Today & Preparing for the Future” and provides Maine School Nurses with increased knowledge of evidence-based best practices of current complex medical, social, and emotional needs of children from preschool through 12th grade.

Location: Bates College

Dates: Tuesday July 24 – Thursday July 26, 2018

For more information visit: http://www.maine.gov/doe/schoolhealth/professional/index.html or you may contact Emily Poland, School Nurse Consultant at Emily.Poland@Maine.gov, 207- 624-6688.

Register Here

2018 Summer Literacy Institute

The Maine Department of Education invites educators to register for the 2018 Summer Literacy Institute. Proven Practices: Accelerate Student Literacy with Visible Learning is a two-day event that builds from Dr. John Hattie’s ground-breaking research which identifies effectiveness of strategies and influences on education. Drawing from materials developed by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, certified consultants Marisol Thayre and Olivia Amador-Valerio will help participants better understand how to:

apply the most effective Visible Learning practices highlighted by John Hattie’s research;
enhance close reading and small group instructional practices to honor surface, deep, and transfer level learning; and
use resources effectively to support continuous learning progress.

Content will be drawn from Text Dependent Questions: Pathways to Close and Critical Reading (K-5 and 6-12), Teaching Literacy in the Visible Learning Classroom, and Engagement by Design as well as other Fisher and Frey texts.

The Institute will be on August 7 & 8 at Jeff’s catering in Brewer.

Read more about this learning event. Register today as seats are limited. For more information, contact morgan.dunton@maine.gov.

Registration now open for 2018 Commissioner’s Conference

Registration is now open for the 107th Commissioner’s Conference for Superintendents.

Location: Augusta Civic Center

Dates: Wednesday, June 27 – Thursday, June 28, 2018

2018 Highlights:

The keynote speaker will be Duke Albanese, a nationally sought-after adviser and speaker on educational issues. His career in education has spanned over forty years, including service as the Commissioner of Education for the State of Maine (1996–2003) and a long tenure as the superintendent of schools for the Messalonskee School District in the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine.
Discussion and meeting topics include: Career and Technical Education, Student Health/Safety, Educator Workforce, Certification, Regionalization, and much more.
This year’s conference will include a cracker barrel session where conference attendees will have a chance to talk informally with Commissioner Bob Hasson and other staff members of the Maine Department of Education.
The Annual Awards & Recognition Banquet.

Download a draft agenda.

Register here »

Find additional resources including pricing, lodging options, further details about registration, including guest registration, and more on the Maine DOE Commissioner’s Conference webpage.