Celebrate Maine’s 196th Birthday

Statehood Day is March 15, which according to State statute is intended to “commemorate the admission of Maine as a state into the United States of America and the ideals and wisdom of those men and women who have formed Maine’s history and traditions.” Maine schools are encouraged to observe the day; following are some resources for consideration.

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A snapshot of statewide implementation of proficiency-based education

Across the five Guiding Principles Maine school administrative units are making progress in providing students opportunity to demonstrate proficiency, and across the content areas, SAUs have made more progress on aligning curriculum and summative assessments to the standards than in reporting proficiency.  The data reveals that current implementation work in Maine SAUs most often focuses on shifts in instructional practice.

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Read to ME Challenge engaged all ages and more

Teachers have challenged students, boys’ sports teams have challenged girls’ sports teams, town managers have challenged police chiefs, grandmothers have challenged grandchildren, librarians have challenged Rotarians, and the list goes on demonstrating the many varied ways in which Maine accepted the Read to ME Challenge. The Challenge began with the First Lady reading with a group of children at the Blaine House and then the Challenge took off.

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Student learning objectives regional trainings proved to be valuable to SAUs

Last month, the Maine Department of Education held regional trainings for over 350 educators from school administrative units (SAUs) around the state. The trainings were held in Portland, Farmington, Ellsworth, and Presque Isle. The Maine DOE hosted presenters from the Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC) in all four locations.

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National Principals Leadership Institute, SICA Awards deadline

To celebrate the accomplishments of schools across the United States and Canada, the National Principals Leadership Institute this year has launched the School Innovation and Change Awards (SICA). Five schools will each receive a $10,000 sustainability grant to advance their work.

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Net Off Invoice (NOI) products available to schools

The Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition program announces School Year (SY) 2017 Net Off Invoice (NOI) products available for processing. Schools will log onto NEO to submit their requests beginning March 14 – 25, 2016. This is not a change from previous years, only an announcement this will be available on March 14, 2016.

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Advanced CTE, a name change for the national association

The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium unveiled its new name, Advance CTE: State Leaders Connecting Learning to Work. The new name reflects and reaffirms the organization’s long history of serving as the voice of state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders and its commitment to advancing an innovative CTE system that prepares individuals and the U.S. economy for success.

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State agency clients returning to their parental home, part II

This notice is to refine the information provided in the previous notice on this subject.

With respect to a child who is in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (a state ward) and who is subsequently reunited with his/her family, MUSER IV.4.D(2) provides that the child remains a state agency client for six months from when the child returns to his family. When, on the other hand, a child is removed from his/her family home by the Department of Health and Human Services and becomes a state agency client but remains in the custody of a parent or family member, and is subsequently returned to live in the family home, the child will lose state agency client status on the date that the child resumes residence in the family home.

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AP4ALL registration is next week

Student registration begins March 7 for AP4ALL, which provides online Advanced Placement courses free of charge to any student residing in a Maine school administrative unit who is educated at the public expense. By offering online Advanced Placement courses at no charge, AP4ALL provides equity of access to any student residing in a Maine public high school regardless of where they live and the limits of resources available in their local school.

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