As part of the Maine DOE’s ongoing commitment to helping our schools improve, we have launched a completely redesigned gifted and talented section of our website.
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Category: Special Education
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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DOE, UMaine launch autism resource, research institute
AUGUSTA – Mainers who serve children with autism and their families will soon have a statewide system of supports.
The Maine Autism Institute for Education and Research (MAIER), a partnership of the Maine Department of Education and the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Development, will open on Jan. 1 at the UMaine campus. The two organizations have committed to contribute a total of $288,000 to fund the first 18 months of the new collaborative.
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Spring training for educators of English learners
The University of Maine Project Reach program invites K-12 teachers across subject areas to apply to its scholarship program, which aims to improve classroom instruction for English learners (ELs) in Maine. The project focuses efforts on current teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and provides a variety of professional and financial assistance to help teachers complete the English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement coursework.
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Transfer decisions refocused on student best interest
AUGUSTA – Starting today, superintendents who reject a parent’s request to send their child to school in another district will have to explain why that transfer would not be in the best interest of the student.
Under Maine law, a parent who believes it is in the best interest of their child to attend school in a different district than where the student lives can request the two superintendents agree to a transfer.
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Mentoring workshop for educators of gifted and talented
New and experienced gifted and talented educators will have a chance to learn new skills and practices at upcoming mentoring workshops in Bangor and Augusta sponsored by the Maine DOE.
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ACCESS for ELLs® to provide media-based listening test
Beginning this testing year, the listening test of Assessing Comprehension and Communications in English State to State for English Language Learners (ACCESS for ELLs®) will be media-based, meaning that all listening items for all tiers and grades 1-12 are prerecorded. Rather than listening to the test administrator read the scripted items as in the past, the students will listen to a recording. This allows for students to listen to more authentic language use, such as conversations involving more than one speaker.
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Maine’s 2013-14 ACCESS for ELLs® testing cycle available
As part of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, all Maine schools annually assess the English language proficiency (ELP) of their English learners in kindergarten through grade 12 using Assessing Comprehension and Communications in English State to State for English Language Learners (ACCESS for ELLs®), a standards-based ELP assessment common throughout the state. The testing cycle for 2013-14 is as follows: Continue reading “Maine’s 2013-14 ACCESS for ELLs® testing cycle available”
Revised special education EF-S-03 form available
The EF-S-03 form for contract approval for special education services has been updated to include categories of service providers listed in Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Birth to Age Twenty (MUSER) that were not listed on the form, including those from the most recent updates to MUSER. The form, which is due Oct. 15, also requires a more precise identification of the funding source for these services.
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