From the Commissioner

For students, August means back-to-school shopping for new backpacks, binders and clothes. But for administrators and educators, it can feel frantic finalizing lesson plans, getting classrooms ready and coordinating instruction with new colleagues. At the same time, the start of the school year also brings new or updated federal and State expectations. We are committed to doing whatever we can to support you so those regulatory changes don’t get in the way of what schools are all about – teaching and learning.

From Common Core implementation to new federal sub-recipient monitoring, this issue of the Commissioner’s Update highlights several of the changes you need to know as you get ready to welcome students back. We hope you find these updates helpful, and we encourage you to continue visiting our newsroom for the latest Department news and guidance and exploring our A-Z index to connect to our wealth of online information.  

As school begins, please remember Maine DOE is a resource to serve you as you serve students. Whether you have a question about facilities, finance or science standards, our team is always just a phone call, email or school visit away to support you. You can find complete Department contact information here, or if you aren’t sure where to begin, send an email to communications.doe@maine.gov or call 207-624-6600 to have your inquiry directed to the person who can be of most help to you.

We look forward to hearing from you.

From the Commissioner

Following the launch of the Maine School Performance Grading System, we’ve spent our time reaching out to underperforming and at-risk schools to learn more about their challenges and the supports they’d like Maine DOE to provide.

What we continue to hear is that schools want to learn from other Maine schools that are like them. In the words of one school leader, “Tell us what’s working in other places with similar populations and budget concerns.” That’s the thinking behind our Center for Best Practice, which provides success stories (and videos) from schools in our state implementing learner-centered instructional practices.

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From the Commissioner

Last week I had the privilege of attending the 21^st Annual Model Schools Conference down in Washington, D.C. Put on by the International Center for Leadership in Education, this year’s conference provided teachers and educational leaders, including many from Maine, with practical ideas for increasing student achievement and ensuring college and career readiness in an age of declining resources and higher standards.

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From the Commissioner

Congratulations on completing another successful school year.

I was honored to spend much of the past week connecting with many of Maine’s education leaders at the 102^nd Annual Superintendent’s Conference in Northport. For those who attended, I hope the transformational leadership development combined with the transitional support to help your schools move to a proficiency-based diploma energized you as much as it did me. Just as our potential to graduate every student prepared is great, so are the stakes – as was made quite evident by the CEOs who spoke during Sunday’s session about the core competencies the opportunities of Maine’s future will demand.

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From the Commissioner

School may be already out, but the Legislature isn’t just yet.

Last week, the Appropriations Committee cut $12.6 million in targeted funding Maine DOE and the Governor had proposed in the next biennial budget that would have supported improvement and innovation in our schools. Included in those cuts was $3 million specifically for school improvement, funding which several districts have already expressed an interest in receiving.

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From the Commissioner

We continue to get positive feedback on the Data Warehouse we unveiled last month in conjunction with the Maine School Performance Grading System. Educators and administrators like having multiple years of their key data – including individual student growth models – in once place, and that they can export it to use and share. The also appreciate the ability to run comparisons of like schools and districts to determine best practices and opportunities for collaboration.

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From the Commissioner

Today marks the launch of Maine DOE’s new School Improvement Webinar Series. It’s one of the many resources we’re making available to support the school improvement work initiated by our Maine School Performance Grading System.

We hope you’ll join us on our four free webinars already scheduled this month. They’ll focus on topics including the characteristics of highly effective schools; using data from our data warehouse and Measured Progress to inform planning for the 2013-2014 school year; and strategies for schools with low income populations to be high performing.

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From the Commissioner

Yesterday, Governor LePage and I celebrated our nationally competitive robotics teams and students who have received recognition at the national level for their accomplishments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – known as STEM.

Maine should be proud of these innovative student leaders who received the Governor’s Promising STEM Awards. Robotics teams from schools in Auburn, Brewer, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Mount Desert Island and Oakland were honored, as were Maine’s delegates to the 2013 National Youth Science Camp (Ryanne Daily – John Bapst Memorial High School and Keylsey Burke – Dirigo High School); the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Mary Butler – Bangor High School,  and Meagan Currie and Harry Pershing – Greely High School); and the National Stockholm Junior Water Prize (Nathan Dee – Bangor High School).

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From the Commissioner

Today I visited the Troy Howard Middle School in RSU 20 as one of the final stops this spring on my Promising Practices Tour. The Belfast school is undergoing a transformation, using data, strong leadership – most notably at the principal level – and customized learning to engage students and improve proficiency and progress.

Even after months on the road for this tour, I continue to be incredibly energized by the practices schools are implementing that show promise and move forward our shared vision of an evolving education system that puts students at its center.

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From the Commissioner

As you receive this, 1,000 students and 200 educators along with their Apple MacBooks are at the University of Maine showcasing how State-supplied technology is transforming learning and better preparing them for success in their classroom, career and civic life as part of the 10th Annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative Student Conference.

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