This week I kicked off my third school tour at Deer Isle-Stonington High School, where it’s clear that Principal Todd West and his staff put student success at the center of every decision they make. The school has not only seen a significant increase in its graduation rate three years in a row, from 58 percent to 94 percent, but it has also launched professional learning communities, advisory periods, and student assistance teams to better their school—and it’s working. By sharing best practices like those at Deer Isle-Stonington, we as educators can learn a lot about improving our schools and doing what works.

While up at Deer-Isle Stonington, I also released the four-year graduation rate for Maine high schools. It rose for a third year in a row, to 85.34 percent for 2012—a rise of more than 1.5 percentage points from the previous year and nearly 5 percentage points since 2009.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – February 28, 2013” →

A little over a year ago, I outlined a vision for education in Maine, our strategic plan, Education Evolving, at Capital Area Technical Center. A few weeks later, Governor LePage and I laid out the education agenda at the Somerset Career and Technical Education Center in Skowhegan. We at Maine DOE, in collaboration with schools and school districts, have made great progress in changing policies and focus toward a system that supports students in achieving proficiency in rigorous standards that will prepare them to be ready for college and careers.

As I’ve often said, some of the best thinking and models for the work we want to do comes from the schools themselves. I’m itching to get out to the schools again to see first-hand the kinds of innovative practices that you are implementing that are showing promise and that are helping to forward the priorities in our strategic plan. The first stop on my tour of schools will be at Deer Isle-Stonington High School next Monday, the 25^th. Graduation rates there have increased – significantly – for three years in a row through a combination of culture change, professional learning communities, and Student Assistance Teams.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – February 21, 2013” →

This week we announced that 14 teachers from schools as far south as Sanford and as far east as Milbridge have been nominated to be Maine’s next Teacher of the Year by their colleagues, students and community members.

While we won’t know the outcome of this process until a surprise award ceremony in September, we do know that the 2013 recipient will join the esteemed ranks of previous Maine Teachers of the Year and will represent excellent teachers and teaching throughout the state.

Best of luck to all nominees as this rigorous process continues.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – February 14, 2013” →

The Governor devoted a good portion of his State of the State address on Tuesday evening to education, a reflection of the passion he has for the topic. As he said, he believes education saved his life.

He introduced three plans that have us here at the Maine DOE pretty excited—and working overtime. First is the Governor’s education conference, planned for March. We’ll share details in coming days as we lock down nationally-known speakers on topics important to our education agenda. Gov. LePage also unveiled his plan for a school performance grading system. This A-F grading will give parents and communities a quick overview of how their school is doing and hopefully generate discussion about how to progress. The grades will be based on publicly available data, multiple measures such as performance and growth, and grad rates for high schools. No, one grade doesn’t tell the whole story, but it’s important to have some transparency and to catalyze discussion about how to improve all of our schools – regardless of where they are on the scale.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – February 7, 2013” →

A little over a year ago, Maine scored high, but not high enough, on its application for a Race to the Top grant to promote advances in the state’s early childhood learning systems. We and our counterparts at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, who worked collaboratively to develop the plan, held a press conference and pledged to move forward with as much of the plan as we could, even though we would not receive any federal funding.

We felt good about our plan and were committed to moving it forward.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – January 31, 2013” →

A quick budget update: Jim Rier and I presented an Education Finance 101 lesson to the new Appropriations Committee last week and are following that up with a similar presentation today to the Education Committee. As you all know very well, education funding is complex, so before we delve into policy, it helps if we’re all on the same page in terms of understanding how the system we have works. As part of today’s discussion, Jim will also touch on the proposal in the Governor’s budget to move a portion (about 14 percent) of teacher retirement costs into EPS and then add funds to GPA to cover about half that cost.

There continues to be a lot of misunderstanding about this piece. The state will continue to pay the vast majority of retirement-related costs. Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – January 24, 2013” →

In a two-year state budget proposal that has a lot of reductions, education was largely spared by comparison – state education funds to school districts will be essentially flat for the next two years, at the post-curtailment rate. While the budget adds $27 million to GPA, it also shifts $28 million in retirement costs to become a state/local share. Currently those retirement costs are covered entirely by the State – for all districts, from the wealthiest to the poorest. The state will continue to cover the full Unfunded Actuarial Liability – the 25-year costs of paying off retirement obligations for teachers – at $142m, and another $30m-plus for retired teachers health and life insurance.

I plan to share more about the education budget next week. For now, here are some education budget-related charts and summaries for your review.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – January 17, 2013” →

The second and final draft of the Next Generation Science Standards was released to the public Tuesday. Maine is one of 26 lead states participating in this state-led, national effort to improve science learning for all students through the development of more effective and rigorous science standards.

We encourage educators and others to review this draft and offer feedback via the NGSS survey by Jan. 29. Individuals may look over only a portion of the standards, but collectively many people across the state will have contributed to the review of the entire document.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – January 10, 2013” →

To better protect Maine’s children, Legislature recently passed a law that prohibits bullying in schools. Over the past eight months, the Department has worked to develop a model policy for bullying and cyberbullying, which schools can use to help them revise their current policies.

The Department recommends that school staff be made aware of the law’s requirements and the recommended procedures in instances of bullying. Kids should feel safe in the company of their peers and have a comfortable environment in which they can focus on learning.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – January 3, 2013” →

The events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., continue to be a challenging and painful presence for many of us, especially in education. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families of the victims and the entire Newtown community.

Maine DOE has created a Sandy Hook web page with a number of resources for school districts, parents and families, including: information about emergency planning and preparedness, how to talk with children, a Q&A, and other materials. We will add to the page as we discover appropriate resources.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – December 20, 2012” →