By Alana Margeson
With the amount of time, energy, education and pride that teachers and administrators place in our schools, it stands to reason that we welcome opportunities to share our work with others. A recent visit from Commissioner Stephen Bowen allowed for Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 to share and highlight our innovation, enthusiasm and dedication.
Continue reading “An open dialogue with the Commissioner in Caribou”
The following is a news release from the Maine Charter School Commission.
AUGUSTA — The Maine Charter School Commission in a public meeting held Tuesday in Augusta discussed, voted and signed three public charter school contracts – culminating months of work on the part of the schools and the commission. The Maine Charter School Commission has the responsibility to approve up to 10 public charter schools in the State in 10 years. The three schools are the Baxter Academy for Technology and Sciences to be located in Portland; the Fiddlehead School of Arts and Science in Gray; and the Harpswell Coastal Academy in Harpswell. These three schools will open September 2013.
Continue reading “Maine Charter Commission approves contracts with three new public charter schools”
The following is a news release from the Governor’s Office.
AUGUSTA – Governor Paul R. LePage has declared May 6-10, 2013, Teacher Appreciation Week—a time to thank Maine teachers for their dedication to our students.
Continue reading “Governor honors Maine teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week”
The Educational Plant Maintenance Association of Maine will deliver the 45th Annual School Facilities Conference this summer. The conference will be held at Colby College June 24-26, 2013. School administrators, facilities directors, business managers, maintenance teams and custodial staff are invited to attend. Registration is free for public school staff. This is a multi-track conference on leadership, maintenance and custodial care. This conference provides a unique venue for school staff to collaborate and learn how to manage buildings to foster positive learning environments.
Continue reading “State offers facilities, business and maintenance staff training”
AUGUSTA – Discover the benefits of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative’s (MLTI) latest solution, Hewlett-Packard laptop computers, by attending webinars to be held Tuesday, May 7, and Thursday, May 9.
Continue reading “MLTI webinars to showcase benefits of HP PC solution”
I had the chance visit three Oxford County schools yesterday as part of my Promising Practices Tour, just a day after releasing the new A-F school grading system designed to improve transparency. As a state, we need to move beyond the one-size-fits-all models of teaching and embrace student-centered models like the ones many Maine schools, like the ones I visited in Oxford County, are doing. Governor LePage and I made reference to that Wednesday when we unveiled the new school report cards, which showed a majority of Maine’s elementary and high schools earned an A, B or C.
Continue reading “Hands-on learning a success in Oxford County”
SOUTH PARIS – A day after releasing a new school grading system designed to focus on transparency and continuous improvement in schools, Maine’s Education Commissioner toured three Oxford County schools that are embracing new models for educational excellence.
The visit by Maine Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen to Oxford Hills Middle School and Oxford Hills Technical School in RSU 17 and Mountain Valley Middle School in RSU 10 was the latest in his Promising Practices Tour.
Bowen began the tour on Thursday at the Roberts Farm Preserve in Norway, where he talked with Oxford Hills Middle School seventh and eighth graders about the life science and leadership skills they’re developing by participating in the farm’s experiential learning program.
The Maine Department of Education would like to welcome Hewlett Packard to the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) family. As you may know, HP has been selected to be the preferred provider for the MLTI program. Over the coming weeks, we look forward to continuing to support schools’ learning goals through MLTI and beginning a new partnership with districts, HP and MLTI.
Continue reading “A letter from the Maine Learning Technology Initiative”
It’s been a busy week at Maine DOE as we released the first A-F report cards for each of the state’s schools as part of the new Maine School Performance Grading System. Now that we have a usable and understandable benchmark of where schools are, the real work begins!
The initiative focuses on continuous improvement through transparency, parent engagement and a renewed focus—not just by those of us in the education community but by all Mainers—on making all of our schools better for all of our students.
It’s been a busy week at Maine DOE as we released the first A-F report cards for each of the state’s schools as part of the new Maine School Performance Grading System. Now that we have a usable and understandable benchmark of where schools are, the real work begins!
Maine DOE Newsroom 