There’s broad consensus that we expect something fundamentally different of our schools today than we expected even a decade ago, when the federal No Child Left Behind Act became law.
Never before have we asked our teachers and administrators to see to it that every child who walks through the door master a set of rigorous standards designed with college and 21st-century careers in mind.
There’s something that stands out to me about the schools I’ve visited since becoming Commissioner that have taken major steps toward implementing a standards-based model of education.
It’s not just that students at these schools are making choices about how they’ll learn and how they’ll demonstrate to their teachers that they’ve met the expectations set out for them.
You could feel some excitement in the air on Friday in the not-always-exciting hearing room of the Maine Legislature’s Education Committee.
That’s when a slate of bills addressing what we expect our students to be able to do once they graduate came up for hearings before the committee.
Continue reading “Setting high standards, and sticking to them”
It’s fitting that during Teacher Appreciation Week we acknowledge an undeniable truth in education: When it comes to advancing student learning, the most important thing a school system can do is put an effective teacher in the classroom.
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and two Maine teachers are receiving prestigious honors this season for the important and noble work they do each day for our children.
Done the right way at these two schools, staff members and students have become convinced of the value of hard changes.
Change is hard. But it’s worthwhile when done right.
That’s a message that rang true recently at two schools I visited at opposite ends of Maine as part of my statewide listening tour.
Landing on the School Improvement Grant eligibility list can be difficult news to accept. It can also be an important opportunity.
Ten communities across Maine this week are digesting the news that their local schools have landed on a list of 10 schools eligible for federal improvement grants.
This can undoubtedly be difficult news to accept, but it’s important not to dwell so much on how a school landed on the improvement list. It’s more important to focus on the future.
Shifting Maine to the Common Core state standards is the right change to make for our children. And it’s a change that will last.
When you bring up academic standards with a group of Maine teachers, one of the most common requests you’ll get is a simple one: pick a set of standards and stick with them.
I traveled to the nation’s capital earlier this week, and I liked what I heard.
It’s not every day one can travel to Washington, D.C., on official business and hear encouraging news about education policy changes coming down the pike.
But my recent meeting in the nation’s capital with state education chiefs from across the country defied expectations.
As I tour the state, I wonder what’s getting in the way of letting educators do what’s best for their students.
Fred Woodman has done it all in his career in Maine schools.
He’s been a teacher, principal and superintendent. Now, he’s director of the United Technologies Center in Bangor, which I visited Thursday on the second day of my statewide listening tour.
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