Welcome to the summer edition of Maine DOE Updates.
Around the Department, summer is no time to sit back and relax. Since our last Update, Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen has toured a number of schools to showcase the Department’s strategic plan, we’ve kicked-off an early college pilot program in Hermon, and the Maine Charter School Commission has approved three public charter schools – and it’s not even August yet. Continue reading “Maine DOE Updates – July 23, 2012”
It’s been a busy and important month here in the education world.
It kicked off with Teacher Appreciation Week, a special time to say thank you to our hard-working teachers. It continued with more work on our efforts to craft a new accountability and improvement system for our schools that replaces what we have under the decade-old No Child Left Behind law. And a few late legislative victories have topped it off.
This legislative session has brought about a major victory for our students and teachers: the passage of An Act to Ensure Effective Teaching and School Leadership, which will help teachers grow professionally by requiring regular, fair and constructive performance evaluations based on consistent, statewide standards. The legislation also requires that teachers’ professional development and ongoing training be informed by the results of their evaluations.
It’s a victory because it addresses the most important school-based factor that influences student achievement and success: the effectiveness of teachers and educational leaders.
Plans are moving ahead here at the Maine DOE to start the work of developing a state accountability and improvement system for our schools that’s thoughtful, fair and constructive.
In doing so, we’re acting on what we’ve heard from you: Students, parents, teachers and administrators want to get out from under the stranglehold of the decade-old No Child Left Behind law. They want a system that considers multiple valid measures in determining the performance of students and schools, and a system that helps struggling schools improve rather than feel stigmatized.
It’s a new year, with all sorts of new developments in the world of Maine education.
Here at the Maine DOE, we had a busy week last week with the release of “Education Evolving: Maine’s Plan for Putting Learners First.” We released the strategic plan at the Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta, where Commissioner Bowen was joined by five students who discussed the enriching experiences they’ve had in school as a result of being able to take control of their learning.
Now, the focus turns to collecting the public’s feedback on the newly released strategic plan. What do you think? Is there something the plan missed? Something the plan does well?
As the holidays approach, Maine DOE is busy gathering thoughts from the public on measuring school and teacher effectiveness, rewarding school success and helping schools improve. Collecting the input is a crucial part of preparing the State’s request for flexibility from the provisions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary federal mechanism for holding schools accountable.
So far, we’ve heard from more than 1,000 people through an ongoing, online survey and a public forum last week at Bangor High School where Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen discussed school accountability with students, teachers, administrators and others.
If you haven’t shared your thoughts, there’s still time.
This month, we bring you news from two recent celebrations of the invaluable contributions of our teachers. First, the 2012 Teacher of the Year and the finalists for the honor gathered in Bangor recently to be recognized at the annual Teacher of the Year banquet. And second, Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen last month surprised a Yarmouth middle-school teacher with a $25,000 check from the Milken Family Foundation.
Also in this update, we bring you Commissioner Bowen’s recent remarks to educators about the major challenges that have stood in the way of our schools’ ability to make significant progress in improving student achievement in recent years, and the priorities upon which we must base an improved model of public education.
This month, we bring you more news to celebrate from 17 schools in the Portland area that have won awards in the HealthierUS School Challenge, the latest developments on the implementation of Maine’s new public charter schools law, dispatches from three recent training events attended by Maine teachers, and preliminary thoughts from Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen on Maine’s efforts to secure a waiver from the provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
It’s been a busy start to the 2011-12 school year.
Maine has been tapped to help lead an effort to develop science learning standards for a new age, a teacher from Caribou has been anointed 2012 Teacher of the Year and two Maine schools are preparing to be recognized later this fall in Washington, D.C.
When school lets out, the work doesn’t stop.
This month, we bring you proof that the professionals who work in our schools remain hard at work during the summer months, even when their students aren’t around. Maine educators have participated in a number of conferences and institutes this summer that have helped them sharpen their skills and meet the needs of their students.
Maine DOE Newsroom 