Category: Special Education

Record number of Mainers earning high school credential

As Maine moves to a new high school equivalency exam, thousands looking to advance their career and post-secondary aspirations are completing the current GED® this year though doing so before 2014 is not required

AUGUSTA – A record high number of Mainers have earned their high school equivalency credential this year in advance of the State moving to a new exam provider starting in 2014.

Already in the first 10 months of 2013, 2,699 Mainers have successful completed their GED®, a significant increase over the 1,878 who did so in 2012 and the 2,258 who did so in 2011.

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Clarification on advance submission of parent concerns for IEP team meetings

The U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) was recently asked to review one of Maine’s school administrative unit’s (SAU’s) policies that required parents to submit parent-obtained evaluations and written statements of parent concerns at least three days prior to an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meeting in order for them to be considered at the meeting.

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Clarification of 1 percent rule for counting proficiency on alternate assessments

Maine students with the most significant cognitive disabilities may take an alternate assessment, known as the Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP), based on alternate academic achievement standards. Those standards must be aligned with the State’s academic content standards, promote access to the general curriculum and reflect professional judgment of the highest achievement standards possible (see 34 C.F.R. § 200.1, July 2013).

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Educators engage in evidence-based professional development

More than 200 Maine special educators and representatives of the Maine Departments of Education, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Health and Human Services recently participated in evidence-based professional development for the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG).

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Updates made to special education FAQs

The Maine DOE maintains an online collection of frequently asked questions about special education. The Department has added new sets of questions to the Caseload and Adverse Effect Form sections of the FAQs. The Child Development Services section has been removed, and an already-existing question from this section has been added to the IEP Team section.

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Additional IDEA, Part B funding for school administrative units

The Maine DOE Office of Special Services will make an additional $3 million in FY13 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B funding available to school administrative units to help offset financial losses they may have experienced as a result of the federal sequestration. These funds are part of the FY13 amount set aside by the Maine DOE, in accordance with its federally-approved Part B application, for State-level activities.

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Alternate assessment no longer required for second graders with disabilities

Beginning in fall of 2014, there will no longer be a fall administration of the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) for third grade students. As a result, as of this school year, Maine no longer requires that second grade students complete the Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP), which tests grades 2-8 students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to participate in the NECAP.

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Commissioner applauds strong start of charter schools

Monitoring by the Maine Charter School Commission of the two charter schools that served students during the 2012-13 academic year show the state’s first charters are meeting their missions

AUGUSTA – The State’s Acting Education Commissioner is applauding the state’s first two public charters after their inaugural monitoring reports show the central Maine schools are engaging students and adapting quickly to meet emerging needs.

Cornville Regional Charter School in Cornville, which served approximately 60 grade K-6 students, and the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences (MeANS) in Hinckley, which served 52 students grades 9-12, opened in the fall of 2012 after Maine, under the leadership of Governor Paul R. LePage, became the 41st state to allow public charter schools. 

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Clarity on charter school special education student funding

In response to several questions from the field, the Department is providing clarity for charter schools regarding funding allocations for students who are newly identified as special education but were not identified as such by their attending school administrative unit (SAU).

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