Welcome to the March issue of the Maine DOE Monthly.

Our Department is often thought of as a regulatory agency, but in reality, so much of what we do here each day is centered on being or providing resources to Maine schools and students. The news we share in our weekly Commissioner’s Updates and summarize in this monthly roundup reflects our supporting role.

In March, we provided $500,000 to CTE centers to support the Bridge Year Program, opened registration for all Maine high school students to take free online Advanced Placement courses, offered schools an opportunity to apply for $1.7 million in improvement grants, and launched new resources for community literacy, ingratiating CTE and math, and implementing a proficiency-based diploma. We are also proud to recognize schools and students for their achievements. This month we announced the 39 Reward schools who have high performance or progress under our new ESEA accountability system and named the 22 students whose talented artwork will be showcased on tens of thousands of MLTI devices and throughout our Augusta offices.

As always, read on for a roundup of other recent updates from the Department and stay tuned to our Newsroom and weekly Commissioner’s Updates for the latest news you can use from the Maine DOE.

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Dispatches & Press Releases

Maine DOE bridges transition to college, careers with $500,000 in grants

AUGUSTA – As many as 225 students will earn approximately two semesters of college credit before they even graduate from high school, thanks to $500,000 from the Maine Department of Education to support the innovative Bridge Year Program. | More

Maine DOE recognizes reward schools for performance, progress

Just as Maine’s ESEA accountability systems allows our Department to identify schools that most need improvement support, it also recognizes those showing the greatest levels of improvement and performance. Through this process, we are pleased to announce that 19 schools have been named as a High Progress Reward School and 20 as a High Performance Reward School | More

Maine DOE selects student artwork for MLTI screensavers

AUGUSTA – Twenty-two young Maine artists will soon have an audience of tens of thousands of their fellow students and teachers for their artwork. | More

Education Commissioner applauds expansion of student learning opportunities

AUGUSTA – Education Commissioner Jim Rier released the following statement this week in response to the Maine Charter School Commission’s approval of the state’s first public virtual charter school. The unanimous approval authorizes the independent Commission to enter into contract negotiations with Maine Connections Academy, which plans to start serving as many as 300 students from across the state this fall. | More

Preliminary FY15 State subsidy printouts published

The Department is pleased to let you know that the FY 2015 (2014-15 school year) preliminary State subsidy printouts, known as ED 279s, are now available here on our website. It is important to remember that these printouts reflect the currently enacted biennial budget, and will no doubt be adjusted as the Legislature responds to current and projected budget shortfalls. | More

AP4ALL registration now open

Student registration is now open 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. | More

Priority schools invited to apply for $1.7 million in SIG support

For the fifth straight year, the Maine DOE has been awarded money from the U.S. Department of Education Title I School Improvement Grants (SIG) program to turn around our state’s persistently most struggling schools. | More

Literacy for ME offers community literacy webinars

The Maine DOE is providing a webinar series designed to support community literacy teams. This five-part monthly series began in January and will continue through May. | More

Project guides for integrating math and CTE available

The project guides in this publication are intended to give inspiration and guidance to teachers who are looking to develop collaborative units that include mathematics and CTE. They have the intended outcome of improving student engagement, participation and achievement and contain a wealth of resources that can be used as is or adapted to fit particular partnerships. | More

Maine DOE adds standards resources

The Maine DOE has recently added a new Standards in a Proficiency-Based Education page to its Getting to Proficiency website with resources intended to support educators as they make these local decisions. | More

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Dispatches
Press Releases
From the Commissioner