In order to implement additional mandates by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently published the Smart Snacks in School standards for all foods sold in school outside the school meals programs. These are practical, science-based standards for foods sold in vending machines and à la carte lines — standards that make the healthy choice the easy choice for students.
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As part of the Maine DOE’s ongoing commitment to helping our schools improve, we have launched a completely redesigned gifted and talented section of our website.
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The Maine DOE is proposing a new rule to implement the teacher and principal effectiveness law enacted in 2012. The proposed rule is Chapter 180, “Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth Systems.”
Continue reading “Notice of proposed new educator evaluation rule”
In the spring of 2018, the students now in eighth grade will become the state’s first class to graduate having demonstrated their mastery of all State standards in the eight content areas of the Maine Learning Results.
Continue reading “Successful transition to proficiency-based diploma starts now”
This summer, 71 Maine educators began helping to develop a formative assessment digital library to accompany Maine’s new assessments, which will be administered starting in the spring of 2015. The library is an online, interactive clearinghouse of resources, tools and professional learning opportunities for educators, students and families. It will include examples of instructional best practices at each grade level, strategies for cross-classroom collaboration and professional development resources related to the assessment system, such as scoring rubrics for performance tasks.
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Project D.E.B.U.N.K. (Dyslexia Educational Bandwagon, Uniting Noteworthy Kids!) along with Decoding Dyslexia-Maine is inviting educators, legislators and Maine families to several upcoming informational events.
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In partnership with the Maine DOE, the Maine Council of English Language Arts is hosting two informational Dine and Discuss sessions about Maine’s next generation assessments. Each session, one at Kennebunk High School and one in Rockland at Oceanside High School, will be facilitated by Maine teachers who participated in range finding on last year’s pilot test of the performance task full writes.
Trying to determine whether a lesson plan, textbook or other item aligns with Maine’s updated math and English language arts (ELA) standards? A free comprehensive toolkit for evaluating alignment to the Expectation of those standards is now available.
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The Maine DOE is recruiting schools to serve as field testing sites to administer the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) Science Inquiry Tasks in grades 5, 8 and 11. These field tests give students the opportunity to engage with science content in a different way than traditional assessments and provide feedback about their experience.
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The University of Maine Project Reach program invites K-12 teachers across subject areas to apply to its scholarship program, which aims to improve classroom instruction for English learners (ELs) in Maine. The project focuses efforts on current teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and provides a variety of professional and financial assistance to help teachers complete the English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement coursework.
Continue reading “Spring training for educators of English learners”
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