It has been a great honor to serve students and schools as the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education for the past two and a half years. In that time, we’ve made incredible progress in moving from plan to practice our Education Evolving strategic plan to restructure Maine’s education system around our students. Continue reading “A letter from Commissioner Bowen: A new opportunity”
Category: Priority Notices
What does approved ESEA waiver mean for your school?
On Monday, we announced that the U.S. Department of Education has approved Maine’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver.
Maine earned the waiver – which can be viewed at www.maine.gov/doe/accountability – because we developed an ambitious yet achievable plan to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps and increase the quality of instruction. As a result, Maine will cut in half the percentage of non-proficient students at each school over the next six years. Continue reading “What does approved ESEA waiver mean for your school?”
Notice of change in law regarding Superintendent Agreements
The statute regulating Superintendent Agreements has been amended to include the following language: “A transfer approved under this subsection may be made only to a receiving school administrative unit that operates a public school that includes the grade level of the student whose parent requests the transfer.”
As a result of this new law, a transfer granted so the student can be tuitioned to a private school will no longer be allowed. Continue reading “Notice of change in law regarding Superintendent Agreements”
Opportunities for sharing your school success story
Following the launch of the Maine School Performance Grading System, we’ve spent our time reaching out to underperforming and at-risk schools to learn more about their challenges and the supports they’d like Maine DOE to provide.
What we continue to hear is that schools want to learn from other Maine schools that are like them. In the words of one school leader, “Tell us what’s working in other places with similar populations and budget concerns.” That’s the thinking behind our Center for Best Practice, which provides success stories (and videos) from schools in our state implementing learner-centered instructional practices. Continue reading “Opportunities for sharing your school success story”
Successful schools use data to focus improvement efforts
Last week I had the privilege of attending the 21st Annual Model Schools Conference down in Washington, D.C. Put on by the International Center for Leadership in Education, this year’s conference provided teachers and educational leaders, including many from Maine, with practical ideas for increasing student achievement and ensuring college and career readiness in an age of declining resources and higher standards.
Continue reading “Successful schools use data to focus improvement efforts”
Law provides educator evaluation and support system development guidance in absence of rule
As many of you know, since LD 1858, “An Act To Ensure Effective Teaching and School Leadership,” was enacted in April 2012, the Department has been working to establish rules to guide you in your local development of the now required teacher and principal evaluation and support systems.
It is with great frustration that I report to you that while the 125th Legislature unanimously supported this initiative to implement a fair, meaningful educator evaluation system, legislators this session have failed to reach consensus – specifically around fulfilling the law’s directive that measurements of student learning and growth be a significant factor in the determination of the rating of an educator. As a result, the Department will need to start the process of adopting Chapter 180 over again in the fall in order to submit a provisionally adopted rule to the Legislature in January 2014. Continue reading “Law provides educator evaluation and support system development guidance in absence of rule”
Enacted FY2013-14 General Purpose Aid for local schools
After months of deliberations, the biennial budget has been enacted following the 126th Legislature’s override of Governor LePage’s veto yesterday afternoon. Based on this enactment, updated school subsidy printouts (ED279s) are now available at: www.maine.gov/doe/eps/.
Some key factors in enacted funding level to note: Continue reading “Enacted FY2013-14 General Purpose Aid for local schools”
We’re serious about our support
Congratulations on completing another successful school year.
I was honored to spend much of the past week connecting with many of Maine’s education leaders at the 102nd Annual Superintendent’s Conference in Northport. For those who attended, I hope the transformational leadership development combined with the transitional support to help your schools move to a proficiency-based diploma energized you as much as it did me. Just as our potential to graduate every student prepared is great, so are the stakes – as was made quite evident by the CEOs who spoke during Sunday’s session about the core competencies the opportunities of Maine’s future will demand.
DOE committed to helping schools improve
School may be already out, but the Legislature isn’t just yet.
Last week, the Appropriations Committee cut $18.4 million in targeted funding Maine DOE and the Governor had proposed in the next biennial budget that would have supported improvement and innovation in our schools. Included in those cuts was $3 million specifically for school improvement, funding which several districts have already expressed an interest in receiving.
Data Warehouse proving valuable new resource
We continue to get positive feedback on the Data Warehouse we unveiled last month in conjunction with the Maine School Performance Grading System. Educators and administrators like having multiple years of their key data – including individual student growth models – in one place, and that they can export it to use and share. The also appreciate the ability to run comparisons of like schools and districts to determine best practices and opportunities for collaboration.
Continue reading “Data Warehouse proving valuable new resource”
Maine DOE Newsroom 