If there’s one undisputed truth in education, it’s that the effectiveness of teachers and educational leaders is the most important school-based factor in influencing student success.

That’s why Gov. LePage this winter introduced legislation aimed at ensuring that all students are taught by effective teachers who have access to high-quality and constructive performance evaluations that help them grow as professionals. It’s also why our strategic plan released a few months ago devotes substantial attention to ensuring great teachers and leaders.

As part of that effort to ensure great school leadership, the Department of Education is sponsoring a weeklong leadership institute this summer at Sugarloaf. Rarely in Maine do current and aspiring school leaders have the chance to receive training not in day-to-day operations, but in the leadership skills necessary to leading a school through significant improvement.

The leadership institute from July 9-13, called “Building Capacity for Transformational Leadership,” will offer district teams a chance to hear from guest speakers with valuable insights, an opportunity to learn from other Maine educators about what has worked and what hasn’t in undertaking improvement efforts, and time to work with colleagues to start piecing together plans for implementing district-level improvements.

I hope to see many of you there.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – April 5, 2012” →

This week, we’re highlighting examples of work in which students have found something they’re passionate about, and used the resources available to them in school to pursue it — with impressive results.

At the Middle School of the Kennebunks, students have combined lessons from art, math, science and English as they gradually redesign every room of The Nonantum Resort on a tight budget and with environment-friendly principles in mind. The students’ Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) laptops come in handy for planning the design, comparing prices, making purchases, and publicizing their work.

In Waterville last Friday, 250 eighth-grade girls attended Future Focus, where they learned about the careers of 50 women who have pursued a variety of career paths. To start the day, the eighth graders heard from Hannah Potter, a Yarmouth High School senior who used her MLTI laptop to connect her classmates with students in Iraq. On Friday, Hannah used Skype to connect the 250 eighth-grade girls with an Iraqi friend so they could discuss what they have in common — and the differences between life in Iraq and the United States.

And yesterday in Augusta, nearly 300 students from 24 schools participated in Maine History Day at the University of Maine at Augusta, where they confidently discussed the wide range of historical themes they had researched. They used documentaries, live performances, poster exhibits and other media to present their work.

Our students are using technology to do impressive work. In the process, they’re learning more because the technology is integrated in meaningful ways into every aspect of the curriculum — something that couldn’t be done without the help of teachers who know how to use technology to engage students and take their learning to a new level.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – March 29, 2012” →

Maine legislators took a major step yesterday afternoon toward passing a bill that goes to the heart of improving our schools: effective teaching and school leadership.

In a unanimous vote, the Legislature’s Education Committee passed LD 1858, An Act to Ensure Effective Teaching and School Leadership. The bill next goes before the full Legislature.

The bill requires that school districts adopt fair and constructive performance evaluations for teachers and principals in alignment with criteria to be developed by the Department of Education in collaboration with Maine educators through a formalized Maine Educator Effectiveness Council.

The bill also takes steps to make sure our teachers are better prepared for the classroom by making improvements to teacher preparation programs and by strengthening requirements that our elementary-level teachers have math and literacy content knowledge as part of their certification.

The process that led to yesterday’s Education Committee vote illustrated how the legislative process and involvement of stakeholders can improve the quality of a proposal like this.

As a result of concerns raised during last week’s public hearing on the legislation by the Maine Education Association and others, we suggested additional language to protect teachers from evaluations made in bad faith and strengthened the provisions that assure our educators many seats at the table when it comes to developing criteria for teacher and principal evaluations. The MEA told the committee the amendment addressed their concerns.

I’m excited not only by the potential for this legislation to improve education for our students, but by how well our legislative process worked.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – March 22, 2012” →

It’s been a busy week in the Maine Legislature.

On Tuesday, the Legislature’s Education Committee heard the first of four pieces of education-related legislation proposed this winter by Gov. LePage: LD 1865, An Act to Enhance Career and Technical Education.

On Wednesday, the hearings continued when LD 1858, An Act to Ensure Effective Teaching and School Leadership, came before the Committee.

The last two hearings take place this afternoon, when LD 1854, An Act to Expand Educational Opportunities for Maine Students, and LD 1866, An Act to Remove Inequity in Student Access to Certain Schools, are up before the Committee.

Thanks to those of you who have turned out for these hearings to let the Education Committee know what you think about the bills and how you think they can be improved.

We’ve been doing our best to keep everybody informed as these bills have been printed and public hearings have been scheduled. We’ve made the bill text, public hearing schedule and Department testimony available on our website at www.maine.gov/doe/first/.

Speaking of our website, we launched a major overhaul of it yesterday afternoon, at maine.gov/doe/. The new website is not complete – in some cases you’ll find links from the new website to content that resides on the Maine DOE’s old website. But that will change gradually as the overhaul continues. Stay tuned, and let us know what you think by taking the survey at www.maine.gov/doe/about.html.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – March 15, 2012” →

Four pieces of education-related legislation proposed by Gov. LePage this winter are now available in bill form for the public to review.

Yesterday, the proposals arrived back from the Legislature’s Revisor of Statutes. While the legislation for most of the bills is still not available on the Legislature’s website, we’ve posted the final — but not official — bill language to the Department’s website.

Read the four bills on the Maine DOE website.

The bill language on that web page is already the result of substantial feedback we’ve received from the education community and others. Still, it can only benefit from additional public input.

I encourage you to take a look at the bills and participate in the legislative process as it unfolds. Public hearings are scheduled for next week.

If you’re unable to attend a public hearing in Augusta, feel free to contact legislators on the Education Committee to let them know what you think.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – March 8, 2012” →

Our work is all about supporting students so they can be successful in their learning and once they complete high school.

Sometimes that support comes in the most basic form: nutritious meals.

After all, a student who comes to school hungry is less likely to enter the classroom ready to learn and is more likely to spend time in the school nurse’s office. A student without access to nutritious food is less likely to be able to maintain a healthy weight, potentially causing lifelong problems related to obesity.

That’s why next week’s celebration of National School Breakfast Week is so important, and so aligned with our work of preparing all of our students for success in college, careers and civic life.

Every day in Maine, our schools serve breakfast to about 41,000 students who need it. As a result, those students can more easily focus on their school work, discover their passions and take charge of their learning so it’s relevant and engaging.

School Breakfast Week will bring attention to our schools that are giving students an extra nutritious boost in the morning, and help students learn about the importance and the advantages of a healthy breakfast.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – March 1, 2012” →

Our announcement earlier this week  that we plan to take our time to craft an accountability and improvement system that works for our students, teachers and schools is good news.

Yes, it means the unfair and unrealistic system we have under No Child Left Behind will stick around for another year. But the constantly moving test proficiency targets will at least stand still.

More importantly, after that one remaining year, Maine will remove itself entirely from the paradigm of the No Child Left Behind Act that we’ve struggled with for a decade. This is an opportunity to take stock of the priorities we share to move to an education system that’s designed around and responsive to student needs, and to craft an accountability and improvement system accordingly. We want a system that’s fair and constructive, that supports — rather than stigmatizes — schools when they’re in need of improvement.

We’re not going to get there, however, without you. The success of Maine’s new accountability and improvement system depends on involvement from teachers and administrators, school board members, students, parents, community members and others. What we heard loud and clear in December at community forums, during dinners with students, in online discussions, and from more than 1,500 survey responses was that you don’t want us simply to tinker or propose patchwork fixes to a broken system. So please lend your voice to this important process. Visit the Maine DOE’s accountability and improvement web page to find out how you can get involved.

In Maine, we’ll take the time we need to devise an accountability and improvement system that is flexible and that works for our schools.

Please note: There will be no Commissioner’s Update on Feb. 23. The next Update will be published on March 1. Have a pleasant vacation!

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – Feb. 16, 2012” →

Curious about the legislative proposals unveiled by Gov. LePage on Wednesday?

If passed by the Legislature, they would:

• make it easier for students to get credit for career and technical education classes at their “sending” high schools and in the Maine Community College System;
• create a “Schools of Choice” program that allows public schools to open their doors to students interested in attending from other districts;
• makes private, religious schools that meet rigorous educational standards eligible to enroll publicly funded students;
• establish an inclusive process for creating standards that define effective teaching, and a timeline for local districts to implement locally developed teacher and principal evaluation systems; and
• allocate $5 million in competitive funds that groups of school districts can use to provide services regionally and implement innovative educational programs.

The Maine DOE’s website has more details on these proposals. It’s all part of the work outlined in our strategic plan: crafting an education system around the need for students to learn in ways that work best for them.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – Feb. 9, 2012” →

Later today, the Department will release its estimates for the distribution of General Purpose Aid to local school districts for the 2012-13 school year.

It’s critical information for local districts as they plan their budgets for the coming school year. It’s important to note, however, that these figures are estimates and should not be entered into budgets as definitive figures.

First, the numbers are still subject to legislative action. Second, the aid estimates we’ll provide are based on a number of factors that are impossible to know at this point, such as student enrollment and the size of districts’ special education populations. For those reasons, subsidy amounts to be released later could still change.

A dispatch in the Maine DOE Newsroom has more details and a link to the web page where the estimates will be posted this afternoon.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – Feb. 2, 2012” →

It’s been a busy and exciting month for us as we advance our efforts to move Maine to an education system that is centered around students.

Feedback has started to come in about our newly released strategic plan, “Education Evolving: Maine’s Plan for Putting Learners First.” We appreciate the constructive suggestions and comments from those who have taken time to read the document, and we actively encourage more feedback.

Check out the plan and join the discussion on our website.

As the feedback trickles in, some of the initiatives outlined in the document are already moving ahead.

Continue reading “Commissioner’s Update – Jan. 26, 2012” →