Commissioner’s Update – June 18, 2015

From the Maine Department of Education

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) invites educators to attend its 2015 Summer Institute scheduled July 21-23 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. This is an opportunity you do not want to miss as you learn new techniques and strategies that will help address proficiency-based learning, teacher accountability and higher order thinking skills.

The annual professional development opportunity will be headlined by keynote speakers Chris Lehmann of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy and Erin Knight from Cities of Learning and Badge Alliance. At the event, educators will share ideas for learning through technology and have the time to examine and try out new ideas in-depth with the support of experts. Among the topics of focus will be iPad workflows, online and blended learning, building digital content, programming with Swift, leadership for technology, and more.

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News & Views

Maine DOE honors finalists for excellence in mathematics and science teaching

Maine DOE recently honored two state finalists for the 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science (PAEMST) with a dinner held at the Maple Hill Farm Inn in Hallowell. | More

Maine FFA student officers gain leadership skills

This year, three student State FFA Officers and three student Chapter FFA Officers attended the “Blast Off!” training on May 29-31 at the USDA Service Center in Presque Isle. | More

Department announces upcoming Diploma Institute aimed at dropout prevention

The Maine DOE in collaboration with Clemson University’s National Dropout Prevention Network will hold a two-day Diploma Institute for selected schools. | More

Public preschool applications for 2015-16 school year due June 30

Public preschool applications for the 2015-16 school year are due to the Department’s Early Childhood Consultant Sue Reed no later than June 30. | More

Say goodbye to MEDMS Staff Collection and hello to NEO Staff; training is next

The Department recently made the decision to replace the staff collection piece of MEDMS with a new application called NEO Staff. | More

Maine DOE announces school transportation software that’s going places

A new and important release of Transfinder school transportation software is scheduled for June 20. | More

Office of Special Services offers guidance on WISC-V

The Maine DOE Office of Special Services has received questions about the three subtest requirements for a specific learning disability identification in Chapter 101 (Maine Unified Special Education Regulations or MUSER). | More

FAME announces Claim Your Future® available to all Maine middle schools

The Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) recently announced their popular game, Claim Your Future® (formerly known as Get a Life), is now available to all Maine middle schools free of charge. | More

Students honored by Maine Humanities Council

The Maine Humanities Council  announced the winners of the 2015 Letters About Literature contest. | More

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LATEST DOE Career/Project Opportunities

Department announces upcoming Diploma Institute aimed at dropout prevention

The Maine DOE in collaboration with Clemson University’s National Dropout Prevention Network will hold a two-day Diploma Institute for selected schools. The event will be hosted by Wayfinder School in New Gloucester and will feature national experts in the area of dropout prevention who will provide training and technical assistance to assist in the development of comprehensive dropout prevention plans.

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Students honored by Maine Humanities Council

The Maine Humanities Council  announced the winners of the 2015 Letters About Literature contest. Elizabeth “Lacey” Brune of the Center for Teaching and Learning won the Level 1 (grades 4 – 6) competition, Gabriel Ferris of Waterville Junior High School won the Level 2 (grades 7 – 8) competition, and Rosemary Wood of Gorham High school won the Level 3 (grades 9 – 12) competition. Please see below for the list of semifinalists.

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Say goodbye to MEDMS Staff Collection and hello to NEO Staff; training is next

In the early 2000s, the Maine Education Data Management System (MEDMS) was created to communicate with local school administration districts and cooperatively manage their staff- and student-level data for state and federal regulatory compliance. Since then, there have been many changes to regulation, as well as advances in technology. In 2005, the Maine DOE removed the student collection piece of MEDMS and added an application known as Infinite Campus to serve as the Department’s Student Information System (SIS). Now, NEO is around the corner.

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Maine DOE announces school transportation software that’s going places

A new and important release of Transfinder school transportation software is scheduled for June 20, 2015. Transfinder Routefinder Pro Version 12.0 is the largest release in the 27-year history of Transfinder, including nearly 40 new features and over 100 enhancements.  For example, simultaneous school routing allowing multiple users to route for the same school at the same time, every grid includes a map allowing users to see the grid and the map at the same time, and much more that is user friendly and requires less clicks. The update is free to Maine public school districts. School districts that now use Transfinder are expected to see the change occur by late June.

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Maine DOE honors finalists for excellence in mathematics and science teaching

Maine DOE recently honored two state finalists for the 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science (PAEMST) with a dinner held at the Maple Hill Farm Inn in Hallowell.  Shari Templeton, Maine DOE Science and Technology Specialist, and Michele Mailhot, Maine DOE Mathematics Specialist, planned the evening event honoring Lauree Gott, elementary science finalist (Veazie Community School) and Laura Stevens, Ph.D., elementary mathematics finalist (Dora L. Small School).

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