Making meaning of a complex text is itself a complex process. When students flex their literacy muscles to read something that is challenging for them, they grow as readers, as thinkers, and as writers. Helping students develop stamina and supporting a productive struggle with challenging texts through routine practices provides the foundation for strong writing skills.
Continue reading “Close reading with text-dependent questions: conducting a text investigation”
You can’t enter a school in Maine today without hearing conversations about proficiency-based diplomas and standards-based grading. Given this focus, arts educators have an interest in ensuring that they are using standards-based assessments to evaluate a student’s growth and development. The information gathered through assessment should be used to determine whether or not students understand and can apply content, and this process is perhaps the most critical aspect of the learning process for teachers. However, arts teachers nation-wide tend to lean towards assessing non-achievement criteria such as behavior, effort, participation, and attendance.
Continue reading “Individual assessment in the large group ensemble”
Maine educators shared their stories about personalizing learning at the New England Secondary Schools Consortium conference in March. The recording of this presentation is available for Maine educators interested in listening to these powerful accounts.
Continue reading “Personalized learning: voices from the field”
The first annual Maine School Wellness Summit will be held on June 22 and 23 at Bates College in Lewiston, and the Maine Department of Education has now opened registration.
Continue reading “Maine School Wellness Summit registration opens”
Forty new school nurses came to Augusta to attend a school nurse orientation sponsored by the Maine Department of Education this month.
Continue reading “New School Nurse Orientation training: concussions to bugs and more”
Maine Department of Education recently participated in Cyber Storm V (CSV), a biennial national exercise conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and facilitated by Maine Emergency Management Agency and the Office of Information Technology.
Continue reading “Department participates in cyber breach training”
Maine DOE’s Title I team will be conducting additional regional roundtable meetings to support and assist districts in analyzing and evaluating current (school and classroom) family engagement strategies.
Continue reading “Upcoming regional meetings offer continued support for family engagement”
The Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) for mathematics and English language arts/literacy testing window opens Wednesday, March 30 and closes May 13. Maine’s alternate assessment is required for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in grades 3-8 and in the third year of high school.
Five schools and districts were in Massachusetts last week representing Maine at a regional conference on effective strategies for improving teaching and learning in the twenty-first century.
Continue reading “Five Maine schools share successful educational innovative strategies”
The Maine Department of Education’s Office of Special Services will be hosting a training webinar to assist Local Education Agencies in new and important procedural and timeline changes regarding the 2016-2017 IDEA Local Entitlement electronic application process.
Continue reading “Annual Local Entitlement application training webinar”
Maine DOE Newsroom 