Maine Learning Results standards, implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the development of the Next Generation Science Standards
SEARSPORT – Representatives from more than 40 schools in Maine, Canada, Scotland and elsewhere have toured Searsport District High School over the past year.
Their mission?
Learn from a rural school of about 200 students – more than 60 percent of whom qualify for free- and reduced-priced lunches – that has executed a transformation by shifting entirely to a system of standards-based education.
Continue reading “Searsport stays ahead of the curve on standards”
PORTLAND – The junior class at Casco Bay High School has spent the past year delving into all aspects of Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and those two disasters’ effects on the people of Biloxi, Miss.
Continue reading “At Casco Bay, expeditions foster engagement”
An infusion of grant funds will allow Maine schools in Portland and Gray to move ahead with plans to allow students more choice in how they learn and more control over the speed at which they advance through school.
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation has awarded Gray-based School Administrative District 15 and Portland’s Casco Bay High School $185,000 and $130,000 respectively to bankroll expansions of the proficiency-based systems they already have in place.
OAKLAND – The students in Shelly Moody’s classroom at Williams Elementary School can explain everything about the lesson they’re working on, how it fits into the broader unit of study, and why it’s important.
The knowledge comes from the classroom’s transition in recent years to a standards-based model of education in which Moody lays out the expectations for her students, makes sure they understand them and allows them to choose how they’re going to meet them.
Continue reading “RSU 18 transitions to standards-based model”
You could feel some excitement in the air on Friday in the not-always-exciting hearing room of the Maine Legislature’s Education Committee.
That’s when a slate of bills addressing what we expect our students to be able to do once they graduate came up for hearings before the committee.
Continue reading “Setting high standards, and sticking to them”
Maine Gov. Paul LePage participated in a panel focused on education policy on May 6 during a Republican Governors’ Association conference in Nashville, Tenn.
Continue reading “LePage talks education at governors’ confab”
Standards-based education allows Massabesic Middle School students control over the way they learn and how fast they do it.
EAST WATERBORO — The seventh-grade students at Massabesic Middle School are busy learning about revolutions. The topic has one definition in social studies class, another meaning in science, and another in English.
Continue reading “Massabesic Middle adjusts to standards-based model”
Landing on the School Improvement Grant eligibility list can be difficult news to accept. It can also be an important opportunity.
Ten communities across Maine this week are digesting the news that their local schools have landed on a list of 10 schools eligible for federal improvement grants.
This can undoubtedly be difficult news to accept, but it’s important not to dwell so much on how a school landed on the improvement list. It’s more important to focus on the future.
Maine is 42nd state to approve Common Core state standards, allowing schools and teachers to plan their curriculum.
AUGUSTA — Maine became the 42nd state to approve the Common Core state standards when Gov. Paul LePage signed L.D. 12 into law on Friday. The measure passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Adopting the standards means Maine teachers will have a clear set of standards to work with, and will be able to tailor their teaching to the new, rigorous expectations of what students should know and be able to do.
Continue reading “Governor signs rigorous education standards into law”
Shifting Maine to the Common Core state standards is the right change to make for our children. And it’s a change that will last.
When you bring up academic standards with a group of Maine teachers, one of the most common requests you’ll get is a simple one: pick a set of standards and stick with them.
Maine DOE Newsroom 