Well, the time has come.
For nearly the past year, we’ve been working on a proposal for flexibility under the decade-old No Child Left Behind Act (or Elementary and Secondary Education Act). Maine will submit its application by Sept. 6, and it’s important to us to involve the public one more time as we finalize a plan for creating a better school accountability and improvement system.
Continue reading “Join statewide discussion on ESEA flexibility”
Governor Paul LePage and I held a press conference this week to discuss the results of a recent Harvard University education study, which found that Maine’s NAEP test scores have barely moved over the past two decades.
Educators from across the state gathered in Augusta for the 101st annual Maine Superintendents’ Conference earlier this week.
I had the chance to speak with future teachers at the University of Maine Wednesday. It was great to witness their passion for education and the student-centered direction the profession is moving in.
Governor LePage and I had the opportunity on Monday to attend Hermon High School’s kick-off ceremony for the Bridge Year Program, a pilot project set to launch 15 students on the path toward associate’s degrees starting in July.
Administrators and teachers at Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston are using iPads to develop new educator evaluation rubrics, the first Teacher Incentive Fund school in Maine to do so. I had the chance to use the app to evaluate fifth grade teacher Danielle Bilodeau when I visited Farwell last week, and I can assure you that teachers have never had any feedback system like this before.
Continue reading “New teacher eval system means better educator training”
This week, in addition to the usual updates about our work, I will ask for something from you. The September 2012 deadline to request flexibility from the federal government in Maine’s implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (or Elementary and Secondary Education Act) is growing nearer, and we at the Department need your feedback to develop our proposal.
Over the next three weeks I’ll be travelling the state visiting schools and programs to showcase the Maine DOE’s strategic plan which we developed last year with input from hundreds of teachers, parents, students, taxpayers, and others. Whereas last time I was listening for ideas, this time I’m sharing the product of those ideas so we can talk about how to make this vision happen.
Our efforts to create an accountability and improvement system that works for our students, teachers and schools — and replaces the system we have under the No Child Left Behind Act — are kicking into high gear.
Continue reading “Accountability and improvement work in high gear”
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to thank our teachers for their dedication to our students.
Maine DOE Newsroom 