Category: News & Views

PEPG resources for principals

The following Priority Notice was distributed to superintendents on Tuesday, August 19.
Dear Superintendents,

As part of ongoing efforts to support school administrative units in ensuring that teachers are led by highly effective building administrators, I am pleased to announce the release of the Maine DOE Principal Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth (PEPG) Model.

The Department has adopted as a State Principal PEPG Model the Administrator Evaluation Framework, which was prepared by the Auburn School Department in collaboration with the Department and the Maine Principals’ Association.

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Educator resources for suicide awareness and prevention

The following Priority Notice was distributed to superintendents on Tuesday, August 19.

Dear Superintendents,

Ensuring the safety of our students is a commitment we all share and by providing supportive places to learn and thrive, we are doing our part to help our young people reach their full potential.

That is why today, I am pleased to announce the release of an online training video and toolkit, Suicide Prevention Awareness for Maine School Personnel, prepared by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Maine and available at no cost to Maine schools. This important resource aids school districts in complying with Maine’s school-based suicide awareness and prevention law (LD 609, PL 53, DOE Rule Chapter 38) that was passed in April 2013.

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Opportunity to learn is central in proficiency-based education

Student demonstration of proficiency as outlined in the State standards in all eight content areas of the Maine Learning Results and the Guiding Principles has at its foundation an infrastructure built on providing opportunities for students to access knowledge and to develop understanding that fosters transferable learning.

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Maine Arts Assessment Initiative hosts New England Summit on Arts Education

The Maine DOE joined over 90 educators, teaching artists, and interdisciplinary teams at the New England Summit on Arts Education, July 29-August 1, at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. This three day professional training opportunity was coordinated by the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative (MAAI) and provided participants with a collaborative approach to explore methods of teaching, learning, and assessment in arts education.

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Maine DOE announces PEPG resources

The following Priority Notice was distributed to superintendents today to announce the release of PEPG resources for educator effectiveness.

Dear Superintendents,

Discussions at the Commissioners Conference in June yielded valuable input for the development of the Maine DOE Teacher Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth (PEPG) Model. In the weeks following the conference, the Department met with a variety of stakeholder groups to revise and finalize the model and companion documents, a collection of resources that will support schools in ensuring that every learner has access to highly effective teachers and school leaders.

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OSEP letter cautions on using alternative graduation requirements for students with disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education has advised Louisiana’s Superintendent of Education John White that a new Louisiana law allowing students with disabilities to follow a different route to a high school diploma than what’s required of other students may violate the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 and the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as other federal requirements.

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Maine DOE awards ConnectME technology grants

The Maine DOE’s Office of Adult Education and Family Literacy awarded twelve $5,000 ConnectME technology grants to adult education programs and four $2,500 technology grants to literacy volunteer programs to enhance the capacity of the organizations to effectively utilize the state’s expanding broadband capacity.

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