Welcome to the June issue of Maine DOE Monthly.

Just as June has been a busy month in our districts as the academic year comes to a close, so has it been here at the Maine DOE as we step up our efforts to support school improvement and innovation. This month, we put on our first improvement strategies webinar series, provided increased training on using our new Data Warehouse to better understand student challenges and opportunities and expanded our Center for Best Practice with helpful new case studies and videos.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Monthly – June 25, 2013” →

Welcome to the May issue of Maine DOE Monthly.

Commissioner Bowen’s month began with the unveiling of the new Maine School Performance Grading System. In the weeks since, the Commissioner and many on the Maine DOE team have been developing and deploying action steps to facilitate school improvement. Look for a weekly webinar series focused on school improvement strategies to start soon and the Commissioner to convene a task force devoted to expanding access to high quality professional development this summer. In the meantime, the Department is already reaching out to D and F schools to identify needs and opportunities and is just a phone call away to serve as a resource in your own improvement planning.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Monthly – May 21, 2013” →

Welcome to the April issue of Maine DOE Monthly.

Commissioner Bowen’s Promising Practices Tour has taken him to schools in Portland, Naples and Caribou this month, and he’ll make it to all nine superintendent regions before the end of the school year.

We’re also preparing to release the Maine School Performance Grading System, also known as A-F school report cards, to public schools across the state. And the Next Generation Science Standards, which Maine helped develop, were released earlier this month. The State Board of Education anticipates voting on adoption of the standards later this spring. Continue reading “Maine DOE Monthly – April 23, 2013” →

Welcome to the March issue of Maine DOE Monthly.

This month, Commissioner Bowen continued his Promising Practices tour at Lewiston Regional Technical Center, where he detailed targeted education supports in Governor Paul R. LePage’s proposed biennial budget and spoke with students who take early college or virtual classes.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Monthly – March 26, 2013” →

Welcome to the January edition of Maine DOE Updates.

This month, Governor Paul R. LePage submitted his two-year budget proposal – it increases funding in some areas, while moving some retirement costs to local districts. The net result is essentially a flat-funding of education while most other agencies and programs are seeing cuts. We’ve provided some budget-related charts to help you sort it out, and we’ll continue to post new information in the coming weeks as the Legislature debates the Governor’s proposal.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Updates – January 30, 2013” →

The events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., continue to be a challenging and painful presence for many of us, especially in education. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families of the victims and the entire Newtown community.

Maine DOE has created a Sandy Hook web page with a number of resources for school districts, parents and families, including: information about emergency planning and preparedness, how to talk with children, a Q&A, and other materials. We will add to the page as we discover appropriate resources.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Updates – December 18, 2012” →

Welcome to the November edition of Maine DOE Updates.

This month, the Maine Charter School Commission approved the application from the Baxter Academy for Technology and Science, making it the third charter school in the state.

Gov. Paul LePage also declared Nov. 2 “Shannon Shanning Day” to honor Maine’s 2013 Teacher of the Year, and the Department began soliciting applications for next year’s rigorous selection process.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Updates – November 19, 2012” →

Welcome to the October edition of Maine DOE Updates.

This month we’ve made history by opening Maine’s first two charter schools, offering students more choices when it comes to their education. We also released Maine’s annual accountability results, which showed that submitting a request last month for flexibility under our current accountability system was the right decision.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Updates – October 15, 2012” →

Welcome to the September edition of Maine DOE Updates.

And welcome back, everyone, to another school year.

This month, we applied for flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act, named a top-notch educator from Poland our 2013 Maine Teacher of the Year and kicked off our new statewide literacy plan.

Continue reading “Maine DOE Updates – September 17, 2012” →