HALLOWELL — Maine’s three finalists for the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching were feted at a Department of Education-sponsored banquet on Dec. 9 at Maple Hill Farm.
Continue reading “Math, science teaching award finalists honored”
The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium recently released the second draft of its specifications for math content on the next-generation, computer-adaptive assessment it is developing in time for the 2014-15 academic year. The consortium now wants feedback from math teachers and others.
Continue reading “Feedback wanted on SMARTER Balanced math specs”
Last of three public forums part of effort to gather feedback for federal flexibility request
PORTLAND — Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen will visit Portland tonight to ask the public for ideas on measuring school and teacher effectiveness, and crafting a system that holds schools accountable and rewards success.
The Maine Department of Education delivered a progress report on the implementation of the state’s new public charter schools law to the Legislature’s Education Committee on Dec. 12.
As the holidays approach, Maine DOE is busy gathering thoughts from the public on measuring school and teacher effectiveness, rewarding school success and helping schools improve. Collecting the input is a crucial part of preparing the State’s request for flexibility from the provisions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary federal mechanism for holding schools accountable.
So far, we’ve heard from more than 1,000 people through an ongoing, online survey and a public forum last week at Bangor High School where Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen discussed school accountability with students, teachers, administrators and others.
If you haven’t shared your thoughts, there’s still time.
The following is a press release from the office of Maine Sen. Susan Collins. The Maine DOE coordinates the selection of the Maine delegates for this program.
Two outstanding high school students to spend a week in Washington
Continue reading “Maine students chosen to participate in U.S. Senate Youth Program”
BANGOR — About 45 members of the public – including teachers, administrators and school board members – attended a public forum at Bangor High School on Dec. 8 to hear from Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen about Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility and to share ideas.
Below is a summary of their comments.
BANGOR — Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen met with eight students at Bangor High School on Dec. 8 to ask their thoughts on what makes for an effective school, and what makes for an effective teacher.
Continue reading “Students offer thoughts on accountability”
The Maine Board of Pesticides Control will discuss draft “Best Management Practices” for the establishment and maintenance of school lawns, playgrounds, and playing fields at their Dec. 16, 2011 meeting in Fairfield. The draft document may be downloaded through this link (opens a PDF).
Continue reading “Comments sought on school grounds management practice”
On Monday, we put that question out to the public as part of the process for assembling Maine’s request to the federal government for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility. We haven’t been disappointed by the response.
There’s no shortage of opinions on this topic, as evidenced by the hundreds of responses to our three-day-old online survey and the active participation in our ongoing, online discussion on ESEA flexibility.
I hope to see the outpouring of input continue in the coming days.
Tonight, I head to Bangor to hear from students, teachers, administrators, parents, school board members and others at a public forum at Bangor High School. And next week, I’ll host an online forum and a public forum in Portland to hear even more opinions. Details on those events can be found on our ESEA Flexibility web page.
The more ideas we hear, the stronger our request for ESEA flexibility will be.
