CTE educators benefit from professional development opportunities

Career and technical educators and administrators from around Maine recently gathered at the Lewiston Regional Technical Center to receive training on Career and Technical Education (CTE) standards, assessment and industry recognized credentials.

The Maine Administrators of Career and Technical Education facilitated and organized the conference for the 400 participants and the Maine DOE CTE staff led many of the professional development workshops offered. Continue reading “CTE educators benefit from professional development opportunities” →

Maine Semester of Youth Service registration open

Registration for Maine Semester of Youth Service is open now through Dec. 12.

The eight-week program begins on the Martin Luther King Day of Service and ends in late March and brings students together to plan and implement either a service-learning project or community youth service project. Continue reading “Maine Semester of Youth Service registration open” →

Consortium sets new assessment achievement levels

Members of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium including Maine have voted to approve initial achievement levels for the mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA) assessment that will soon be administered. Continue reading “Consortium sets new assessment achievement levels” →

Maine DOE hosts educator effectiveness workshop on Dec. 12

The Maine DOE is offering a free half-day workshop for new superintendents and building administrators who need general information on the educator effectiveness law, which requires all school administrative units to develop and implement performance evaluation and professional growth (PEPG) systems by the 2015 school year.

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SAUs encouraged to update data prior to Dec. 1 freeze

As a reminder, the Department will be freezing the school administrative unit data on Dec. 1 for 2015-16 State subsidy calculations. This includes data from MEDMS Financial, student data in Infinite Campus (State Edition) and FTE counts for staff.

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WIDA ACCESS for ELLs® English language proficiency testing window opens Dec. 1

The WIDA ACCESS for ELLs® will be a paper-pencil test this year and will be administered to all English learners in grades K-12 during a testing window from Dec. 1 to Jan. 30.

Continue reading “WIDA ACCESS for ELLs® English language proficiency testing window opens Dec. 1” →

Maine FFA students learn about leadership

More than 50 secondary student members of the Maine FFA (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) gathered at the Senator Inn in Augusta earlier this month to practice leadership skills related to communication and taking on responsibility.

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Tips for promoting school breakfast programs

The Maine DOE’s Child Nutrition Services Team is offering tips for schools looking to grow their breakfast programs.

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Registration open for Maine Geographic Bee

Registration is open now for this school year’s Maine Geographic Bee, a competition open to Maine schools with students in grades 4-8.

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Districts reminded of importance of maintaining accurate student enrollment data in DC system

The Maine DOE is reminding districts of the importance of maintaining accurate student enrollment data in the new Direct Cert (DC) system due to its integration with State Infinite Campus. In particular, when a student is transferred to another district, they may not show as eligible on a Direct Cert list if the transferring school fails to report the transfer to the State in a timely manner.

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