Move the Needle Learning and Technology Summit

Moving the needle is the objective of the Maine’s Learning Through Technology Team which is partnering with the Thomas College Center for Innovation in Education and Educate Maine for a summit on technology and learning in classrooms on Friday, Jan. 15.

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Use of federal funds to provide food or beverages

Administrative Letter: 4
Policy Code: KLM
To: Superintendents of Schools, Business Managers, Directors of Special Education
From: William H. Beardsley, Acting Commissioner
Date: January 13, 2016
Re: Use of Federal Funds to Provide Food or Beverages

The Maine Department of Education has received a number of questions regarding the use of federal funds to provide food and beverages at meetings and conferences. Generally, the use of federal funds for food and beverages is discouraged. The documents posted at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/guid/gposbul/gposbul.html are the federal government’s advisory on this topic.

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Upcoming workshops for 2016 math & ELA/literacy assessment

The following Priority Notice was sent to school administrative units on Monday, Jan. 11.

Maine DOE is informing districts of upcoming training workshops to prepare for the 2016 Maine Educational Assessment for Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy. In-person trainings are for grades 3-8 (eMPower™ME) and 3rd year high school (SAT). Dates and locations are as follows:

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Maine DOE supports financial education

Educators are encouraged to mark May 6 on the calendar for the 7th Annual Fostering Financial Education in Maine Schools Conference to be held in Augusta. Fee waivers and substitute teacher reimbursements will be available for the conference, which is hosted by the Maine Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.

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Maine DOE collaborates to host proficiency-based education webinar series

Last month the Maine DOE and the New England Secondary School Consortium (NESSC) held the first of two webinars featuring Maine League of Innovative Schools members. The webinar series is primarily designed to showcase one particular aspect of a league school’s personalized learning efforts.

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Students and educators benefit from Maine DOE Innovation Lab Network membership

A new online resource that provides performance assessments and the resources to support the teaching and learning of math, English/language arts, science, history/social studies, and the 21st century skills embedded in Maine’s Guiding Principles is now available to Maine educators.

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A mathematics three-part series professional development update

This year, the Maine Department of Education is bringing together approximately 200 teachers of mathematics to learn about and implement practices that support student engagement and learning in a professional development series titled, “Connecting Mathematics Instruction to Support Student Engagement and Understanding (K-12).”

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Effectively using the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements in world languages

Research indicates that the identification of clear learning targets is a strong support for language learning. The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements for Language Learning are progress indicators for language learning, and are a valuable resource for teachers and students alike. Based on research that reveals language learners to be more motivated and self-directed when they have an understanding of the proficiency spectrum and language progressions, as well as gaining the ability to self-assess on their language ability, the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) collaborated to develop the national Can-Do statements. These are made up of two parts: the Can-Do Benchmarks and the Can-Do Statements.

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Integrating choice-based art

Students are more motivated, and are more likely to learn, when they are pursuing their own ideas. In choice-based lessons, teachers act as guides and support students to take charge of their own learning. Teachers interact with students as if they were artists and offer them real choices for responding to their own interests.

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