The U.S. Department of Education released news last week that might be construed as promising, but it’s not quite a reason to celebrate.
Continue reading “Movement in Washington, but not the kind we want”
Category: Priority Notices
MLTI and next-level learning
I had the opportunity last week to drop in at the eighth annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative Student Conference on the University of Maine campus. What I saw made the experience well worth the trip.
Commissioner Invitation to Superintendents’ Conference
May 23, 2011
Dear Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents of Schools:
I’m pleased to invite you to the 100th Annual School Superintendents’ and Assistant Superintendents’ Conference on June 27-28, 2011 at the Senator Inn in Augusta, Maine.
Continue reading “Commissioner Invitation to Superintendents’ Conference”
A new law for a new age
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.
Toward a literacy of learning
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.
Setting high standards, and sticking to 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”
Encouraging effective teaching
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.
Honoring our effective teachers
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.
Change, for the better
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.
There’s plenty to learn from Sumner
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.
Maine DOE Newsroom 