Category: Newsroom Articles

Extended Deadline: Paid Professional Learning Opportunity Provided by Maine DOE – Applications Close March 21, 2024

The Maine Department of Education is accepting applications from individuals interested in learning more about the competitive grant process. Selected applicants will be trained to serve as peer reviewers who assist the Department in reviewing, assessing, and scoring competitive grant proposals for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st  CCLC) Program. The 21st CCLC program is a federally funded education program that helps schools and communities develop before-school, after-school, and summer educational programs that support students and their families.

This year’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 21st CCLC program was released to the public on January 9, 2024, and is available online at: https://www.maine.gov/dafs/bbm/procurementservices/vendors/rfps. The Department anticipates receiving proposals from local education agencies, community-based organizations, and other eligible entities seeking awards under this RFP.

Qualifications:

Peer review applicants will be selected based on their experience in providing effective academic support, enrichment, youth development, and related support services for children and youth. The most qualified candidates will be individuals who have experience in the administration of high-quality youth development programs within schools and communities. Examples of the experienced individuals sought include, but are not limited to:

  • 21st CCLC program directors and site coordinators
  • Teachers and principals
  • College and university staff
  • Youth development workers
  • Community resource providers

Required Tasks:

Selected applicants must be able to participate in an online training and review grant proposals through a web-based system. Applicants will work individually to read each assigned proposal and create detailed, objective, constructive, and well-written comments on approximately 10 proposals based on the criteria established in the RFP. These comments will be submitted to the Department prior to participating in the scheduled consensus scoring sessions. It is anticipated that peer reviewers will have a three (3) week window in which to complete their individual review of assigned proposals.  Following the individual review of proposals, each successful applicant will be required to participate in a series of two (2) online/virtual consensus scoring sessions hosted by the Department. It is during these consensus scoring sessions that the peer review team will score each grant proposal.

Selected applicants must complete the following tasks during the following date(s):

Task Date(s) Time(s)
Participate in an online training webinar April 3, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Review grant applications through a web-based system and provide individual, written comments on each application (which must be submitted to the Department) April 12, 2024 – May 1, 2024 Any Time
Participate in online/virtual consensus scoring sessions with other members of the peer review team (applicants MUST be available on all four scoring days, but will only be selected to participate for two days) May 6, 2024 – May 7, 2024; or
May 8, 2024 – May 9, 2024		 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Compensation for Services:

Selected reviewers who complete the required tasks will be provided an honorarium of $100 per assigned application.

Previous participants have also found that serving as a member of the peer review team is an excellent opportunity for professional development and growth. It is likely that, if selected, applicants will be exposed to new program models, strategies, and practices. These new concepts may provide ideas and support for ongoing work as well as future grant writing efforts. Most importantly, the time given to this effort will help ensure the funding of quality education programs for the children and families of Maine.

How to Apply:

Interested parties must contact Travis Doughty at travis.w.doughty@maine.gov to obtain a copy of the 2024 peer reviewer application and then return the completed application along with a current resume or CV.

Pursuant to Title IV, Part B of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, peer reviewers may not include any applicant, or representative of an applicant, who has or will submit a proposal in response to the current grant competition.

Deadline:

The Maine Department of Education will continue accepting peer reviewer applications through March 21, 2024, or until the needed positions are filled. Interested parties are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Contact:

For more information, contact Title IV State Coordinator, Travis Doughty at travis.w.doughty@maine.gov or 624-6709.

A Day on Fahi Pond Ice Fishing with Upper Kennebec Valley High School’s Wildlife Studies and Maine Woodsmen Classes

On February 9th, 2024 Mr. Atwood’s Wildlife Studies class and Mr. Davis’s Maine Woodsmen class ventured out to Fahi Pond in Embden, Maine for a day of ice fishing and outdoor skills practice.

Mr. Atwood’s class was tasked with the assignment of manually drilling half a dozen holes in the sixteen-inch ice to set traps for a chance to catch some local fish.  Everyone took turns dragging and/or carrying all the necessary equipment out onto the ice.  Hauled in by manufactured and makeshift sleds alike, a camp for the day was soon on its way.

While the Wildlife Studies students were learning how to bait their hooks and set traps from Mr. Atwood, the Maine Woodsmen class, with help from their teacher, Mr. Davis, were in full swing setting up their fifteen-foot, pop-up ice fishing shack and preparing their kitchen within.  The woodsmen students took turns cooking meals, cleaning, and serving everyone food and drinks. The morning started with a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, and locally harvested maple syrup with orange juice, milk, and hot chocolate.

When students weren’t busy tending to traps or providing creature comforts to their peers, everyone was able to relax and enjoy the calm sunny weather and one another’s company. Several students tried their hands at drilling holes for jigging both outside and inside the shack as well as making a comfortable campfire.  As everyone began to cool down, it was soon time for lunch, and once again, the woodmen students were busy in the kitchen. This time making a meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup that really hit the spot.

Though only one flag flew and not a fish was caught, the day was a great success.

This story was submitted by MSAD 13. To submit a good news story to the Maine Department of Education, fill out this submission form.

Katahdin Schools’ Nutrition Team Receives National Award for Innovation

(Pictured: members of the nutrition team at RSU 89.)

Four school districts in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and Ohio received awards for their trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for their students. This announcement was made in front of nearly 850 school nutrition professionals at the School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Conference during National School Breakfast Week recently.

Regional School Unit 89, Maine’s own Katahdin Schools received the “Innovation in Preparation of School Meals” award for incorporating more scratch cooking into menu items, such as homemade sub rolls using their oatmeal bread recipe, homemade croutons, pickles, and roasted chickpeas.

RSU 89 has also partnered with a local farm, Keep Ridge Farm in Benedicta to source produce like squash, onion, eggs, carrots, and kale. They host monthly taste tests allowing the student body to determine what the next new menu item will be.

“At our annual Thanksgiving meal, we featured Keep Ridge Farm roasted squash, local farmer Steve Crouse’s potatoes that we boiled and mashed, and turkey from USDA Foods in our homemade gravy and homemade stuffing,” said Denise Tapley Proctor, food service director at RSU 89. “The meal was well received by the community, and the reactions of our kids make us love the change in direction our school is making to more scratch cooking.”

The three school districts that received awards are the first winners of the Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards, jointly created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Action for Healthy Kids as part of USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, also known as HMI. These awards celebrate school districts that embrace opportunities to take their school meals to the next level. HMI is one of several ways that the Biden-Harris Administration is supporting schools to provide kids with nutritious meals that support their health and well-being.

Here are more pictures of the RSU 89 nutrition team preparing mashed potatoes from Keep Ridge Farm, homemade oatmeal rolls, USDA hamburger made into hamade gravy, USDA corn, and homemade apple strawberry crisp:

Information for Celebrating The Week of the Young Child April 6th – 12th

The Week of the Young Child is a national event promoting the importance of high-quality early learning sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  This year the Maine Department of Education and the Office of Child and Family Services are teaming up to support early childhood educators across the state to join the celebration and promote the vital work they do every day in their child care programs and Pre-K through 3rd grade elementary school classrooms.

The event takes place during the Week of April 6th – 12th with a kickoff on Saturday and interdisciplinary daily themes for the following week.

We hope that you will join us in celebrating the Week of the Young Child! To help elevate the importance of high-quality early learning and care for the great community,  please share photos through this form to show how your early learning program/classroom celebrates the Week of the Young Child by utilizing high-quality practices and strategies to build positive relationships and a sense of community in your early care and education setting.

We can’t wait to see the positive impact Maine’s early educators are making with the children and families in your program or classroom! To celebrate your efforts, we will be running a raffle for each day of the week. Your name will be entered once for every submission you make on the link above and the winner each day will receive a package of SWAG with items provided from the Office of Child and Family Services, the Early Learning Team at the Department of education, Maine Roads to Quality and the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children!

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for Early Childhood Education (ECE) Day at the State House on Thursday, March 21, 2024.  This is an opportunity for early childhood educators, families, and ECE supporters to work together to elevate the need for high-quality early care and education opportunities and for the importance of a strong ECE workforce.  Join us to celebrate the successes and call attention to the ongoing needs.  For more information visit the events section of the MaineAEYC website.

If you have questions or would like more information on the Week of the Young Child, please reach out to one of the members of the Early Learning Team and/or a member of the Office of Child and Family Services listed below.

Early Childhood Specialist, Nicole.Madore@maine.gov

Family and Community Engagement Program Manager, Megan.Swanson@maine.gov

Maine DOE Seeking Public Comment on Two Transportation Rules

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is seeking public comment on the following two transportation rules Targeted Revisions to Rule Chapter 83: School Transportation Operations Program and Full Repeal of Chapter 84: School bus Refurbishment Program. Find details on each rule below.

Targeted Revisions to Rule Chapter 83: School Transportation Operations Program

The purpose of Rule Chapter 83 is to determine who is eligible for access to the School Transportation Operations Program and provide a process for eligible schools to access the software subsidy. This rule has been revised to make clear the role of the Department of Education in providing the subsidy, the technical start-up process, and the distribution of state payment of approved subsidies. These changes are indicated in underlined text.

Full Repeal of Chapter 84: School Bus Refurbishment Program

Rule Chapter 84 established procedures for school administrative units (SAUs) to contract for school bus refurbishment services through the Maine School Bus Refurbishment Program.

The program provided subsidy to school administrative units (SAUs) in order to offset the partial cost of refurbishment for school buses used to transport students to and from home and school and school events. This program was operated the Maine State Military Authority which no longer refurbishes school buses. As a result, the Department of Education is proposing a full repeal of the rule.

Public Comment for both Rules:

The revised Rule Chapter 83 and proposed repeal of Rule Chapter 84 can be found here

These rules will be published and receive the same public comment dates since they deal with the topic of transportation. As required by law, a period of public comment opens for both of these rules on March 13, 2024, through April 15, 2024. Written comments may be submitted to DOE Rulemaking Liaison Laura Cyr, State House Station #23, Augusta, Maine 04333; 207-446-8791 or laura.cyr@maine.gov until 5:00 pm April 15, 2024. For documentation purposes, written comments are preferred.

Contact person for these filings (include name, mailing address, telephone, fax, TTY, email): Laura Cyr, laura.cyr@maine.gov, (207) 446-8791

Maine DOE Releases Professional Development Grant for 2024/2025 School Year to Promote Climate Education in Maine Schools

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is excited to launch Phase 2 of the climate education professional development grant pilot program. The grant application is due on May 3rd, 2024. The program window runs from July 1st, 2024 until June 30th, 2025. There is $750,000.00 in funding available for local education providers to apply to partner with a community-based organization for climate-related, interdisciplinary professional development. This grant program was designed out of LD 1902 which passed in the spring of 2022.

There have been minor refinements from Phase 1 of this grant program in the fall of 2023. Overall clarity and simplicity of the application have been improved as well as a focus on applicants demonstrating increased access to historically underserved communities. The full RFA and application can be found by following the link below.

This program is overseen by Teddy Lyman, the Maine DOE’s Climate Education Specialist. Teddy will coordinate this program including the application, awards, and contracts. During the RFA application window, Teddy cannot communicate directly with anyone who might benefit from direct communication that is not publicly available.

Questions about the RFA should be emailed to Teddy at: Theodore.Lyman@maine.gov by 11:59 pm on March 29th, 2024. Questions and answers will be posted publicly at the link below.  The Climate Education Action Taskforce was also launched this spring to design the future of climate education (more information can be found below).

For more information and updates, check out the DOE climate education webpage.

Celebrating National Preschool Teacher Appreciation Day on March 15, 2024

Preschool education is the essential foundation in a child’s developmental and educational journey. Neuroscience has demonstrated that the greatest period of brain development occurs in the preschool years, making high-quality experiences during this time pivotal for supporting life-long learning.  The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is proud to celebrate National Preschool Teacher Appreciation Day on March 15, 2024, honoring Maine’s amazing public preschool programs and especially the backbone of these high-quality programs which are teachers themselves.

In Maine, preschool represents a lot of different programs funded by the state and federal government including Maine’s Child Development Services (CDS), which provides special education services to preschool and school-aged children through a network of nine regional sites, in addition to Head Start, a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children from low-income families with currently 11 programs across the state, as well as the 255 schools in over 165 school administrative units throughout Maine enrolling students in Maine’s amazing public pre-K programs.

“In preschool, children are beginning to develop their identities as lifelong learners, to love school, and to be curious,” said a pre-K teacher at Brunswick School Department. “They become curious about themselves, curious about each other, and curious about the world. Being the first stop in a child’s educational journey is part of the magic of being a preschool teacher.”

Maine is fortunate to have such a robust system for preschool children that is growing larger and stronger every year. The strength of these programs and the very reason they are successful is because of the preschool teachers and their dedication to meeting the needs of Maine children and their families.  The return on investment in early education is larger than investments made in adolescence and adulthood, making the impact of preschool educators even more significant.

Here are what some of Maine’s preschool program coordinators had to say about their preschool teachers:

“Our preschool teachers are consistent and caring with the children at the CDS Preschools,” said Heather West, one of Maine’s Child Development Coordinators. “The kids light up when they see their teachers at arrival time, and it shows how important they’ve become to each other. You can tell that the teachers truly care about each child and family they work with!”

“SKCDC is so grateful to have an amazing team of early educators,” said Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation (a Head Start program) Agency Director Cristina Salois. “They bring joy to their work, and children benefit from exploring, experimenting, and discovering indoors and out!”

Child Development Services Coordinator Deb Mullis shared what a parent told her recently, “My child lights up when we pull into the parking lot, and she sees her teacher ready to greet her.”

“Our children have been making tremendous progress toward their IEP [individualized education plan] goals due to the hard work and consistency of the teachers,” added West. “It wouldn’t be possible without the preschool teachers!”

Here are some pictures from preschool programs across Maine:

CDS preschool teachers
CDS preschool teachers
Artwork from a pre-K classroom
Children in a pre-K class
Children in a pre-K class
Activities in a Pre-K class
Children in a pre-K class
Children in Head Start

Mt. Blue High School Eases the Ninth Grade Transition with BARR

(Through BARR, Mt. Blue High School students McKylee and Kenzee developed a strong bond with their ninth-grade counselor and BARR Coordinator, Anna Peterson, that continued into their sophomore year.)

For five years, Mt. Blue High School in Farmington has used the BARR (Building Assets Reducing Risks) model to ease ninth graders into high school. As a result, they have seen increased attendance, lower failure rates, and stronger bonds between educators and students and among educators.

“Freshmen have always been a demographic of students who have struggled,” said ninth-grade Earth Science teacher Kerry Schlosser, “I think BARR leads to just an additional level of support. Especially when you go from middle school to high school, it’s such a vulnerable year, a vulnerable time.”

The ninth-grade educator team at Mt. Blue know their students deeply. They greet them by name in the hall, know who their best friends are, and their dreams for the future. BARR helps facilitate those strong relationships.

Mt. Blue High School is one of more than 70 schools across Maine implementing BARR. Last summer, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) provided an opportunity for any school in the state to become a BARR school and join schools like Mt. Blue that have been experiencing incredible success through BARR.

BARR is a model that combines relationship building (staff to staff, staff to student, and student to student) and real-time data to enable schools to strengthen academic outcomes and wellbeing for all students. By building strong relationships with students and fellow educators, teachers can work together to support the whole student.

Educator teams meet in Block Meetings, where they discuss each student individually, focus on their strengths and connections to school, share personal knowledge and observations (e.g., a student’s mental health, family life, goals, etc.) and analyze benchmark data (e.g., grades, attendance, behavior, etc.).

Schlosser explains how Block Meetings work at Mt. Blue.

Mt. Blue's Community Connect meeting is where educators and school community members meet to discuss at-risk students. Mt. Blue educators and school community members sit around a conference table talking about BARR with laptops in front of them.
Mt. Blue’s Community Connect meeting is where school community members meet to discuss at-risk students.

“We have a Big Block at the end of the week where we discuss students as a big team with the administrator, school counselor, and social worker. Then, at the beginning of the week, we have our Small Block meeting, where we as teacher teams and then discuss students and small interventions there,” she said.

Students whom educators identify as at risk are discussed in Community Connect meetings, which involve greater school community members including school resource officers and administrators. At Mt. Blue, they hold weekly Community Connect Meetings, which include Peterson, the ninth-grade Assistant Principal Greg Henderson, school social workers Angelica Levy and Jack Turner, school nurse Vicky Gerstenberger, special education building coordinator Mike Hanson, and school resource officer Matt Brann. During their meetings, the Community Connect team develops strategies to intervene and limit poor behaviors before they result in a suspension.

Makylee, a sophomore, feels that the support she got through BARR in ninth grade set her up to have better relationships with her sophomore teachers.

“Teachers talk and have meetings. They let each other know how you are as a student, so you don’t have to go in as a fresh start,” she shared. “Then, your bond just increases to grow.”

These positive relationships with educators are built during I-Time. Much like Block and Community Connect Meetings, I-Times can vary from school to school. At Mt. Blue, each ninth-grade teacher has twenty freshmen they see during multiple I-Times. I-Times involve everything from relationship building activities to life skills development. Most importantly, these I-Times allow students to meet and bond with peers and teachers, and students are able to bond on a deeper level.

“Not only did your teachers get to know you, you got to know them, and you bonded as a class and a community,” Makylee said.

Before investing in BARR, Mt. Blue saw consistently high suspensions and low attendance rates.

“The year before BARR, suspensions were through the roof, and there were a lot of different behaviors,” remembers Joel Smith, the Mt. Blue Principal. “Hearing that BARR had an impact on academics, attendance, and behavior, that was appealing…especially the behavioral component, and we’ve seen a difference since then.”

Since starting BARR, Mt. Blue’s suspension rates have gone down, their attendance is up, and the failure rate was below five percent in the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year.

“Our failure rate, since implementing BARR, has gone down each and every year,” said Smith.

Mt. Blue BARR Students sit in a science classroom at long black lab desks, facing the front of the room where a teacher sits in front of a laptop talking to them.
Dr. Patricia Millette teaches her ninth-grade I-Time students about using critical thinking to decipher manipulative advertisements.

Outside of the data and inside the classroom, educators are experiencing those positive trends firsthand and they are sustained past freshman year. Sophomore English teacher Meadow Sheldon, who has been teaching at Mt. Blue since before BARR was implemented, sees a real difference in her post-BARR sophomores.

“They work hard, and they can advocate for themselves,” Sheldon conveyed. “They have an understanding of what [their grades]  mean and ask for help more than students have in the past.”

What’s more, students feel better about being at school. Quinn, a freshman, found school unappealing up until this year. Now, he is an honor student who is close to his teachers.

“It feels like the school actually treats me like a person instead of like a kid,” he said.

Peterson is immensely proud of the ninth-grade team’s work with BARR.

“I love the way that we take care of every ninth-grade student. We notice if their grades are slipping if they’re absent, or if there is a problem,” he said.

Smith and Peterson hope to see the BARR model extended to the entire high school someday.

“We are looking at opportunities whenever possible to implement the BARR model,” said Smith.

Interested in becoming a BARR school? Attend this BARR webinar coming up:

Applications are now open to all willing and qualified public schools that would like to become a BARR (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) school. Click here to apply. Applications are due by March 22, 2024 by 5:00pm EST.

The Maine DOE will cover all costs of implementing the program for schools new to BARR for the 2024-2025 school year. (Note: if you are already a BARR school with an existing contract, your costs will be covered for the 2024-2025 school year as well and you do not need to reapply.)

The Maine DOE used American Rescue Plan funding to create a competitive BARR grant to help schools invest in the model.

Belfast Alternative Ed Program Partners with Local Paper for Student Mentorship Experience

(Pictured: Emma Witham, a student at BCOPE, RSU 71’s alternative high school program)

Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education is RSU 71’s alternative high school program, which was funded by a grant from the Office of Substance in 1990.

The program began in a small rental space down the street from Belfast Area High School. In 2002, the district built the program their own building, which was designed by students. The campus includes a 4000 square foot building equipped with four classrooms, a full kitchen, a band room, an organic garden and a greenhouse. The program currently serves 33 students 16 of which have a parent or sibling who has attended there.

“Over the years, we have worked with many community partners,” said Helen M. Scipione, BCOPE Teaching Principal. “One of our most recent partnerships is with Village Soup, The Republican Journal, which is our local weekly newspaper. The editor, Jim Leonard, did an article on BCOPE last year and he was so impressed with what he experienced, he offered to mentor a student reporter. We quickly took him up on his offer.”

Emma Witham, one of BCOPE’s current students is a gifted writer and she accepted the challenge. Emma’s mother, Krystal, and her sister, Abby both graduated from BCOPE. Her twin sister, Ava, also attends BCOPE now.

Emma recently had her first article published and it is not only the history of BCOPE, it is her experiences with alternative learning.

“We are extremely proud of Emma and BCOPE and we’d like to share it with you,” said Scipione.

In Emma’s words, “I have been honored for who I am at BCOPE and it’s an experience I’ve never had before. I am extremely grateful for BCOPE.”

Read the full article here in the Village Soup.

“I can honestly say that we are eternally grateful for our community of learners that spans 34 years,” added Scipione.

This article was submitted by BCOPE. To submit a good news story to the Maine DOE, use our Good News Submission Form.

 

 

Five Maine Education Programs Highlighted in National Webinar on Educational Innovation

In December, five Maine educators leading school innovations and working towards systemic change to create powerful outcomes for Maine students were featured in a webinar hosted by The Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northeast & Islands with nearly 100 educators from across the country present.

The goal of the webinar was to deepen understanding of different types and purposes of educational assessment within the context of implementing an educational innovation. These educators shared a variety of data sources they used to establish evidence of efficacy as they worked toward systemic change.

Students Laughing - outdoor learning
Students from Portland Public Schools

Portland Public Schools

The first team of educators to present in the webinar were Brooke Teller and Katie West of Portland Public Schools. They shared assessment tools to measure the desired outcomes of increased exposure and engagement for all students, teacher joy, knowledge and commitment to outdoor and experiential learning, and a greater awareness and understanding of Environmental Literacy Practices and Indigenous Worldview. They have a district-wide innovation for 3,200 K-5 students. By examining student field journals, conducting interviews, and surveys, these innovators were able to begin to capture the impact of their innovation on not just students but the larger community. 

“We’ve been doing interviews and collecting anecdotes and stories because we know how powerful a story can be,” said Brooke Teller of Portland Public Schools.

Falmouth Middle School

Katie Coppens of Falmouth Middle School shared their Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV) Pilot: The Navigator Program. The goal of this innovation is to foster empathy and responsibility for the community by immersing students in the natural, cultural, and historical elements of the community and to use these as a foundation for the study of science, social studies, and other subjects across the curriculum. The People & Places of the Presumpscot unit was the first step in creating district-wide place-based programming. Katie shared creative pre and post unit assessments that demonstrated student growth. 

“When you think of the Presumpscot River what word comes to mind?”

word cloud comparison

“This simple snapshot is a measurement that shows the impact this place based unit has on student understanding and connection to the Presumpscot River,” Katie Coppens, Falmouth Public Schools.

Agnes Gray Elementary School

MSAD 17Outdoor Learning in the Oxford Hills was the focus of Sarah Timm’s presentation. As a result of capturing outcomes of increased engagement and motivation, improved student behavior, and academic achievement, the program began the second year of implementation by moving from one elementary school in the district to all 8 elementary schools in the district. The success of the innovation with the elementary schools has informed their decision to provide outdoor learning opportunities to preK-12 students. 

“We are collecting data about how student behavior in the woods compares to student behavior on metal and  plastic playground equipment.”  Sarah Timm, Outdoor Learning Coach describes one data measure at Agnes Gray Elementary school a school with a forest playground for students. 

Maine Indian Education Schools

Gen Doughty, the RREV Leader for the Maine Indian Education Schools, has been supporting the implementation of Extended Learning Opportunities, Place-Based and Project-based learning in order to increase meaningful student participation and to strengthen connection to the community. It only makes sense that as their innovative pilot focuses on a shared way of life, culture, customs, and traditions, that they assess educational outcomes in a way that aligns with Wabanaki Culture. Gen shared that while they originally tried to measure connection to community and culture through surveys but it wasn’t meaningful information. That led Gen and her team of educators to the challenge of examining how the Wakanaki culture would go about a quest for knowledge. That led to the use of storytelling through small and large talking circles which provided a much deeper understanding of how to respond to student needs.

“The school is a place where many gather , not just a place for our students, our families are involved and we have community meetings and different sorts of activities that happen for our entire families to join in with our students.” Gen Doughty.

The Maine Demartment of Education (DOE) encourages all schools and districts across the State of Maine to learn more about RREV innovative educators and their pilot programs through the RREV website and the online RREV collaborative platform known as EnGiNE. It is through EnGiNE that we hope to continue the momentum to change students’ lives through innovative and responsive educational programs.