The Maine DOE’s Office of Adult Education and Family Literacy awarded twelve $5,000 ConnectME technology grants to adult education programs and four $2,500 technology grants to literacy volunteer programs to enhance the capacity of the organizations to effectively utilize the state’s expanding broadband capacity.
Continue reading “Maine DOE awards ConnectME technology grants”
The Commission to Strengthen the Adequacy and Equity of Certain Cost Components of the School Funding Formula was established pursuant to Resolve 2014, Chapter 114 and held its first meeting on July 25.
Continue reading “Commission established to study essential programs and services”
Maine Child Development Services (CDS) system, in collaboration with the Maine CITE Coordinating Center, the statewide Assistive technology (AT) program, has created a web-based inventory system to track adaptive equipment/AT.
Continue reading “Child Development Services announces web-based inventory system”
Student officers of the Maine FFA Association (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) attended the National Leadership Conference for State Officers (NLCSO), a regional leadership training in Croghan, New York, June 28-July 2. They joined 36 peers from surrounding New England states and New York.
The National Assessment Governing Board will be issuing a call for nominations in mid-August; information will be available on their website at www.nagb.org at that time. For this new nominations cycle, web-based information will be presented via a microsite, accessible from the NAGB home page. The microsite will include information and videos about the Board, the nominations process and why people should consider submitting a nomination. Nominations are due on Oct. 31.
Continue reading “National Assessment Governing Board accepting nominations in mid-August”
This school year the Maine DOE will be requiring all superintendents and private school administrators to file the Update of Maine Schools form electronically through NEO, the Department’s new data management system. In the past, information about Maine schools such as physical address, phone numbers, and grade levels were distributed and collected through a paper process.
Continue reading “Update of Maine Schools form to be filed electronically for 2014-15”
Maine’s County Teachers of the Year have been hard at work this summer. They have now completed their oral presentations and are one step closer to becoming Maine’s State Teacher of the Year. These 16 teachers, representing every area of our state, have developed a platform that keep students at the center of their work advocating for teachers, students, and quality education in Maine.
Continue reading “Maine’s County Teachers of the Year one step closer”
The following release was originally published by the Maine Department of Labor on July 29, 2014.
AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Labor announced in a news release proposed changes to rules surrounding job training programs for minors. The purpose of the proposed change is to allow students enrolled in approved Career and Technical educational programs to train on specific equipment, located at a business that is necessary for their course of study.
Continue reading “Maine Department of Labor proposes rule changes to assist CTE students”
Welcome to the July issue of the Maine DOE Monthly.
This past month the Department continued to provide valuable resources, support and practical tools to help transition Maine schools to awarding proficiency-based diplomas to ensure the next generation’s success in the workplace, college and beyond. On July 22, the Department shared with superintendents the six extension application forms posted on the Department’s Getting to Proficiency web pages as well as a confirmation of readiness form for school districts to provide evidence of preparedness. The Department is also grateful to Bangor, Cape Elizabeth and South Portland high schools for piloting the extension application process for Maine school administrative units to follow. These examples confirm the great volume of work and thoughtful planning occurring in Maine schools in support of students’ learning.
On July 17, the Maine DOE together with the Maine Department of Labor and the State Workforce Investment Board were pleased to announce a federal grant in the amount of $819,433 had been awarded for meeting workforce system and adult education performance goals. In addition to this support, Governor LePage announced early in the month that the Department will be distributing $11.3 million over the next five years to support extended learning opportunities for at-risk students.
As always, read on for a roundup of other recent updates from the Department, and stay tuned to our Newsroom and weekly Commissioner’s Updates (publishing biweekly during the summer months) for the latest news you can use from the Maine DOE.
Noah Binette, a freshman at Noble High School in North Berwick, Maine, has won first place for his exhibit about Malaga Island at the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day competition recently held at the University of Maryland. | More
As a governing state in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, Maine continues to support the efforts to develop a rigorous assessment system that will become operational in the 2014-15 school year. | More
The Child Development Services team is pleased to announce that as of June 30, the Part C staff at all 9 regional CDS sites has completed the Routines-Based Interview (RBI) training. | More
In closing comments of the Annual Commissioner’s Conference for Superintendents, Education Commissioner Jim Rier applauded attendees for their attention and participation in the event. that was designed to provide superintendents and other district administrators with guidance, technical assistance and practical tools to use in implementing recently-passed legislation. | More
The Maine DOE has released results from the proficiency-based diploma Readiness Inventory, a tool designed to help school districts better understand their progress toward proficiency and to help determine which of the six extension options is best for them to pursue. | More
Following enactment of the Maine Educator Effectiveness law in 2012, the Maine DOE worked for over a year to finalize the rules that govern the development and implementation of performance evaluation and professional growth (PEPG) systems for teachers and principals. | More
The following Priority Notice was distributed to superintendents Tuesday, July 22.
Dear Superintendents,
Discussions at the Commissioners Conference in June yielded valuable input for the diploma extensions application process. In the weeks following the conference, three school administrative units in Maine agreed to pilot the application process by completing the extension request best suited to their level of preparedness to award a proficiency-based diploma.
Continue reading “Proficiency-based diploma extension applications now available to SAUs”
