The enactment of PL 2013, Chapter 53, (LD 609), An Act To Increase Suicide Awareness and Prevention in Maine Public Schools, requires all Maine school personnel to be trained in suicide awareness and prevention. It further requires all school administrative units (SAU) to put supports in place to help prevent suicide.
Continue reading “Maine DOE proposes rules for suicide awareness and prevention”
The Maine DOE is inviting teams of educators to attend the 2014 Summer Literacy Institute to be held August 12-13 at Thomas College in Waterville. The two-day event will feature members of the Vermont Writing Collaborative sharing its book Writing for Understanding. Presenters will explain the Writing for Understanding approach which describes a method of teaching writing that clearly matches the purpose and supports inclusion of strong evidence to support the main ideas.
Continue reading “Maine DOE announces 2014 summer literacy institute”
Maine is required by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to conduct a second “Highly Qualified” Teacher (HQT) data collection for the 2013-14 school year.
Continue reading “Department reminds SAUS of additional 2013-14 HQT data collection requirement”
The development and implementation of Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth (PE/PG) systems has prompted many school administrators to look for opportunities to share ideas and resources.
Continue reading “Maine DOE releases professional practice model survey results”
The Maine Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened (CDHHLD) is seeking nominations to fill vacancies on the Commission. Students, parents, educators and community members with knowledge and experience related to hearing loss are especially important to the work the Commission does to implement positive changes for Maine’s deaf and hard of hearing citizens.
Continue reading “Members sought for deaf or hard of hearing commission”
The Maine DOE is reminding superintendents, Infinite Campus (IC) data managers, building administrators and school office personnel of the state-wide implementation of the military-dependent child identifier responses in Infinite Campus expected in the upcoming October upload.
Continue reading “Maine DOE reminds districts of new military identifier for fall reporting”
Gulf of Maine Research Institute Chief Innovation Officer Alan Lishness will provide a keynote address entitled Why Maine Matters: Managing Change in a Complex World
ORONO – Students from 44 schools will gather at UMaine on Thursday to showcase how technology provided by the Maine Department of Education is transforming their learning and better preparing them for classroom and career success.
Nearly 1,000 students and educators will be on Maine’s largest college campus as part of the Department-sponsored 11th Annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) Student Conference.
The rollout of the report cards at www.maine.gov/doe comes as Education Commissioner Jim Rier completes a statewide tour celebrating the many Maine schools that improved by at least one letter grade
AUGUSTA – The 2014 school report cards are out and certificates of achievement signed by Governor Paul R. LePage and Education Commissioner Jim Rier are in the mail for 121 schools that earned an A or B grade.
Dozens of schools that demonstrated high levels of student growth over the past year will also receive a certificate and a letter recognizing their success in better serving all students.
In a few hours, the 2014 school report cards will be made available to the public via the Department’s Education Data Warehouse.
Meanwhile, I am spending the day visiting elementary schools in South Hiram and Gorham that have each seen a two-letter grade gain since last year’s report card was released. The grading system certainly can’t be credited for those increases, but it has helped to surface success stories that can inform the improvement work happening at so many of our schools.
Continue reading “Report cards can provide learning opportunities”
As the end of the school year approaches, the Maine DOE is reminding school administrative unit (SAU) staff that discipline reporting is due on June 30. The Department’s focus on bullying prevention has enabled us to expand the reporting capabilities available to SAUs and a detailed explanation of these improvements can be seen here.
