State releases 2014 report cards, congratulates high performing and high progress schools

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, Maine – 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.

“I want to congratulate these Maine schools who have stepped up to put kids first and who have seen student outcomes and opportunities improve as a result,” said Governor LePage. “Maine schools can be the

Patricia Bixel, Ph.D., Named New Dean of the School of Science and Humanities at Husson University

Bangor, Maine - Husson University announced Tuesday May 13th that Patricia Bixel, Ph.D., has been named dean of their School of Science and Humanities.

“Patricia will be an outstanding addition to our team. Her vision, academic qualifications and management expertise make her extraordinarily well suited to lead the School of Science and Humanities,” says Lynne Coy-Ogan, Ed.D., senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Husson University.

Prior to joining Husson University, Bixel was an associate academic dean and professor of history at Maine Maritime Academy (MMA). She was promoted to this position after serving for three years as chair of the Department of Arts and Sciences at MMA. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Bixel has taught history, geography, and world politics at Maine Maritime Academy for the past 13 years.  

In her new role, Bixel will be the chief administrator for the School of Science and Humanities. She will be

Growing Popularity and Reputation of Unity College Leads to Unprecedented Expansion

Unity, Maine –  With the popularity of Unity College surging nationally and internationally, the College has announced an unprecedented expansion of faculty and staff.

As the first college in the United States to adopt sustainability science – the leading-edge of 21st century transdisciplinary (collaborative) environmental problem solving – as its framework for teaching and learning, Unity has attracted top talent to augment its visionary faculty, staff and administration.  The College community welcomes the following individuals to an endeavor that is vibrant, focused and without borders.  Just as Unity College issues forth environmental professionals who become leaders across the globe, so too, is it attracting professionals who are committed to ensuring that Unity reach its key goals in service to the sustainability of the planet.

The newest members of the Unity College community are:

Mary Saunders Bulan, Ph.D., Director of Half Moon Field Station and Assistant Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Enterprise

Saunders Bulan possesses broad experience in sustainable farming, value-added enterprise, research, teaching, and learning.  She has served as a volunteer on biodynamic farms and specialty produce operations in British Columbia, was coordinator for a non-profit farm project in Rhode Island, has overseen membership, and greenhouse / field production.  Bulan’s work on her Ph.D. program expanded her understanding of farming systems both globally and at home, and reinforced her commitment to sustainable agriculture. She holds a Ph.D. in Agronomy, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a B.S. in International

Maine high school graduation rates continue to climb

The State Department of Education is encouraged by the increase, but says a wide graduation-proficiency gap and high college remediation rates show Maine schools must prioritize proficiency
Augusta, Maine - Maine’s high school graduation rate continues to climb with 86.36 percent of all students who entered the ninth grade in the fall of 2009 earning their diplomas on time in 2013, but State education officials stress that proficiency must be the top priority.

That rate is among the top 15 in the nation, which reflects a rise of more than a full percentage point each year since it was at 80.3 percent in 2009-2010 when the current calculation method was first used.

Maine Education Commissioner Jim Rier congratulated Maine schools and students for the continued improvement in the graduation rate, but stressed the state’s focus must be on ensuring students are truly college and career ready when they leave Maine public schools.

As of 2018, Maine high schools will award proficiency-based diplomas that require students to demonstrate mastery of the state’s learning standards in critical content areas like math and reading.  The gap between the percentage of students who graduate and those who are proficient in math and reading is now around 37 percent, and a third of graduates who go onto college in Maine need basic remedial courses.  

“While I am encouraged to see a continually climbing graduation rate, it’s more important to me that our college and career readiness rates are also rising,” said Commissioner Rier. “As Maine moves toward awarding diplomas based on proficiency rather than time served, students can be more confident the diplomas they’ve earned signify they are adequately prepared for success at the next step.”

Of Maine’s 133 high schools, 73 improved their four-year graduation rate from 2012 to 2013 and 60 did not.

The State is working toward a goal of having a 90 percent graduation rate, and 45 high schools met or exceeded that in 2013, including North Haven Community School, Saco Transition Program, Rangeley Lakes Regional School, East Grand School, Mt Abram Regional High School, Erskine Academy, SAD 70 Hodgdon High School, Cape Elizabeth High School, Houlton High School, Yarmouth High School, York High School, Wells High School and Calais Middle/High School, which all boasted rates above 95 percent.

York County has the highest four-year graduation rate at 89.86 percent, followed by Washington County with 89.29 percent and Franklin County with 88.6 percent. Androscoggin County had the state’s lowest at 77.94 percent.

The five-year graduation rate for the 2012 graduating class cohort was also up slightly to 87.39 percent.

The Class of 2013 was the smallest in recent years, down to 12,792 students from 13,042 in 2012, which mirrors declining overall public school enrollment.

While members of the Class of 2014 are getting ready to graduate in just two months, graduation rate data for the Class of 2013 only recently became publicly available due to the reporting and review cycle at the State and local levels.

To see Maine high school graduation data, visit the Maine Department of Education’s transparent online Education Data Warehouse at http://www.maine.gov/doe/dataresources/.

Maine DOE prepares to release school report cards, outlines changes

In an effort to expand the snapshot of a school the report card provides, the Department will add information about student poverty, teacher tenure and education levels, and funding

AUGUSTA, Maine – The Maine Department of Education has begun creating the 2014 school report cards that will be published in May.

For the second straight year, the Department will use existing school performance and progress data to provide the public a snapshot of how the state’s 600 schools are doing.

Earlier today, superintendents and principals received a reminder from the Department to review the math and reading proficiency and growth data as well as graduation and assessment participation rates that will be used to calculate their report card. For months, schools have had all of the data that will be used and have already certified it as being accurate. But in an effort to ensure data quality and grading system transparency, the Department is providing a final review and appeal period this year.

The Department developed the Maine School Performance Grading System in 2013 to bring more transparency and accountability to school performance across the state.

The report cards provide the public with Maine’s first true statewide accountability system. Previous systems required by the State and U.S. Department of Education relied on bureaucratic terminology to characterize school performance and only applied to Title I schools.

The roll-out of the report cards last May sparked a statewide conversation on school quality and drove thousands of Mainers to the Department’s website to learn more about their local school’s performance and

LIFE IN THE MUSIC WORLD AT ROCKLAND DISTRICT MIDDLE SCHOOL

Rockland, Maine - Life in the music world at Rockland District Middle School is full of exciting opportunities this year! In addition to our normal spring concert, there are a couple of extra events happening.

On Thursday, April 3, the Symphonic Band from the University of Maine at Orono will be playing a brief concert in the auditorium at OHS-E.  As one of the finest collegiate bands in New England, this will be a wonderful opportunity for the band students to witness a professional group and see what they can achieve with time and practice.

On Tuesday, April 29, a UMaine alumni, Christopher Keene, will be coming to RDMS to hold a school wide assembly.  Christopher G. Keene speaks about the power of singing to bond communities and families. He brings groups of people together through beautiful traditional music.  Community Sings are mass events bringing any number of people together to join in song. Groups range from a few singers to hundreds to thousands, and are usually untrained non-musicians who make up the audience of a choral concert.  Keene

Husson University’s Southern Maine Campus to Host First Open House at New Westbrook Location

Westbrook, Maine - Individuals interested in career-focused undergraduate and graduate education will have a unique opportunity this upcoming weekend. They can be among the first ever to learn about educational opportunities at Husson University’s new Southern Maine Campus in Westbrook.

“This will be our first open house at our new location,” said Charlie Collins, executive director of Husson University’s Southern Maine campus. “Whatever goals someone might have, whether its sharpening existing skills, training for a new career or finishing a degree, we can help.”

Individuals attending the open house will have the opportunity to tour the new facility, speak with an enrollment advisor, obtain financial aid information and learn about the various classes and programs available through Husson University’s Southern Maine campus.

Husson’s new three-acre campus in Westbrook has over 17,000 square feet of space and offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in 20 professional-oriented programs. With 15 classrooms, the renovated and modernized facility is ideally suited to serve the more than 200,000 Maine adults who have

Dr. Paul W. Ferguson, President of the University of Maine to Speak at Husson University

Bangor, Maine - Paul W. Ferguson, Ph.D., president of the University of Maine, will share his thoughts on "The Challenges of Academic Leadership in the 21st Century" at the Gracie Theatre on the campus of Husson University on March 27th at 12:00 p.m.

“Lectures about leadership are valuable to both students entering the workforce and professional educators,” said Robert A. Clark, president and CEO of Husson University. “In addition to being an efficient way convey information and promote understanding of key concepts, a good lecture can stimulate valuable discussions that generate engagement and positive change. At Husson, we’re always interested in learning more about best practices that can help us further improve our students’ learning experience. We are looking forward to President Ferguson’s presentation.”

The lecture is free and open to the public.

More About Dr. Ferguson:
Paul W. Ferguson became the 19th President of the University of Maine on July 1, 2011. A Southern California native, President Ferguson is a Whittier College graduate who earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of California, Davis in 1981. Between college and graduate school he gained work experience as a research specialist at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center and as a research biologist for Pennwalt Corporation.

An accomplished scholar with a 30-year record of achievement, President Ferguson began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Louisiana, Monroe.   At that institution, he worked to establish the first undergraduate toxicology program

Maine Department of Education releases elementary student assessment results

In State assessments given this past October in grades 3-8, the majority of elementary school students are proficient in reading and math but are losing ground compared to performance in the previous year
Augusta, Maine - The majority of Maine’s elementary school students are still proficient in reading and math, but State Education Department officials say performance declines in all grade levels tested are a reminder of the importance of school-led improvement work continuing.
 
The performance of students in grades three through eight, as measured by the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) administered in October, comes just months after the Department announced proficiency in math and reading was on the rise again in Maine high schools, according to scores from the 2013 SAT.
 
Maine students in grades 3-8 continue to post their strongest results in reading, with nearly 70 percent of those tested performing at or above proficiency. Scores for students in grades three, five and seven were flat from 2012 to 2013, but declined slightly in the other grades tested.
 
While eighth-grade reading scores did drop, 71 percent of students are still proficient or better, and more students were deemed to be proficient with distinction in 2013, making this the grade-level and subject matter where Maine students continually perform their best. 
 
Meanwhile, students in fifth-grade had a slight increase in math proficiency, with 63 percent deemed proficient or above. Math scores were flat in grade seven and down in grades three, four, six and eight.
 
A student is deemed proficient when their work demonstrates grade-level appropriate skill. By way of comparison, high school proficiency is just under 50 percent in both reading and math.
 
2013 Maine Student New England Common Assessment Program Performance

Grade assessed	Subject	Percent proficient or above*	Subject	Percent proficient or above*	Subject	Percent proficient or above*
Grade 3	Reading	68 (=)	Math	59 (-2%)
Grade 4	Reading	66 (-3%)	Math	63 (-2%)
Grade 5	Reading	71 (=)	Math	63 (+1%)	Writing**	50 (+5%)
Grade 6	Reading	70 (-1%)	Math	61 (-3%)
Grade 7	Reading	69 (=)	Math	59 (=)
Grade 8	Reading	71 (-5%)	Math	56 (-5%)	Writing**	47 (-10%)

*Percentage in parenthesis reflects change from 2012. 
**Not used for State or federal accountability or Maine School Performance Grading System
 
Reading and math assessment results are the only ones used for State and federal accountability, as well as on the State's school grading system, but Maine’s fifth- and eighth-grade students are also tested in writing. Performance in writing was down dramatically for grade eight students, but for those in grade five was up to 50 percent proficient or above in 2013, compared to 45 percent in 2012 and 41 in 2011.
 
Education Commissioner Jim Rier said he’s concerned by the year-to-year drops in grade-level performance, but that it’s important to remember that reflects a different group of students. Working to understand and improve the performance of cohorts of students over time should be the priority of all Maine schools, he said.
 
“While I am encouraged to see elementary proficiency remains so high—especially in reading—we cannot accept these troubling declines,” said Commissioner Rier. “These latest testing results must renew the commitment of Maine schools to improving student outcomes through embracing innovative approaches, enhancing educator effectiveness, and engaging parents and the public in supporting schools and students. Our Department looks forward to being a resource to that locally led work and has already stepped up our efforts to do so including offering more professional development opportunities, helping schools better understand and use their performance data and providing more improvement-related technical assistance.”
 
2013 marked the last NECAP administration as Maine moves to a next generation assessment system aligned with its recently updated academic standards, known as the Maine Learning Results. The first administration of that assessment will be in the spring of 2015, measuring students where they are at the end of the academic year—rather than after summer vacation—and providing results in weeks, rather than months, to better inform instruction in real-time. 

Now that NECAP data is in, the Department can begin calculating the elementary school report cards that will be released this May. In the meantime, parents and the public are encouraged to become familiar with their local school’s performance across all content areas and to ask questions of their superintendents and schools boards about efforts underway to improve outcomes.

Elementary schools already have their 2013 NECAP results to share with their communities, and results are also available on the Maine Department of Education’s transparent public data warehouse at www.maine.gov/doe/dataresources.

The Gracie to Air Documentary About The Central Park Five

Bangor, Maine - The Gracie Theatre at Husson University will screen the documentary film “The Central Park Five” on March 27 at 7:00 p.m.  Admission is free and open to the public.

“The Central Park Five” describes the brutal attack and rape on a white female jogger in Central Park, and the subsequent media swarm that resulted in the imprisonment of five black and Latino youths for crimes that, as it turned out years later, they had nothing to do with. The case transfixed the city of New York and the nation.

The film tells the story of the five youths (labeled by the media as a “wolf pack”); their efforts to prove their innocence against the entrenched bias of the public, the prosecutors and the NYPD; and the efforts to clear their names for a crime they didn’t commit.

Produced and directed by Sarah Burns with her father, the revered documentarian Ken Burns, and her husband David McMahon, “The Central Park Five” is an engrossing tragic tale of a justice system hell-bent

Maine Department of Education bridges transition to college with $500,000 in grants

The funding will allow students to earn post-secondary credit while still in high school and develop technical and life skills for success in college, careers and civic life
Augusta, Maine - As many as 225 students will earn approximately two semesters of college credit before they even graduate from high school, thanks to $500,000 from the Maine Department of Education to support the innovative Bridge Year Program.

Governor Paul R. LePage and Education Commissioner Jim Rier announced today the 12 Career and Technical Education (CTE) Centers receiving State support to help cohorts of up to 15 high school juniors and seniors get a head start on their college coursework through the University of Maine.

Program participants will be able to earn up to 30 college credits, which would allow them to complete an Associate’s Degree within 12 months of high school graduation. Courses are taught by high school instructors who have been approved by the university and will cost students just $45 per credit hour – considerably less than UMaine’s going rate.

Students will concurrently receive a technical skills-based education through their CTE Center that will put them on a career track in occupations including those related to automotive, business, electrical, equipment maintenance and repair, health and public safety.

“I applaud these CTE Centers and their local high schools for partnering to provide new opportunities for students and for our state,” said Governor LePage. “It’s all about doing what is best for kids.  Bridge Year puts students first by saving them time and money while supporting the development of skills they’ll need to be competitive in the workforce.”

Supporters of the Bridge Year Program like Governor LePage and Commissioner Rier see it as a meaningful approach to removing barriers to higher education and reversing Maine’s persistent low degree attainment rates and skills gap.

The most recent data from Maine DOE shows that 64 percent of Maine students enroll in college following their high school graduation, with around a third of those needing remedial courses in reading or math.  Beyond the rigorous college coursework, the program includes summer academies on the UMaine college campus and financial planning sessions that additionally prepare students for college experiences.

By building confidence and lowering costs, Bridge Year makes an often daunting transition to post-secondary studies possible for participating students, says Education Commissioner Rier.

“This is the model for how the public K-12 system, higher education and the workforce could be aligned in a way that engages kids early on and truly ensures their college and career readiness,” said Rier. “We feel confident these students will go on to be very successful in college, because they already have proven they can be.”

This spring, a pilot class of the Bridge Year Program will graduate from Hermon High School. Early indications of success with that class led the LePage Administration to propose $2 million in the current biennium budget to bring opportunities to students statewide, but the Legislature reduced that request to $500,000 last summer.

The Governor has recently proposed $1 million to maintain the program in FY15. Until then, Maine DOE is working to stretch the existing $500,000 as far as possible. Those funds have been divided by the Department between programs that are ready to be operational with students this fall and will receive $60,000. Those that are in the planning phase and will start in the fall of 2015 will each receive $20,000.

Recipients of $60,000 grants include Region 2/Southern Aroostook County in partnership with Houlton High School, Ellsworth-Hancock County Technical Center in partnership with Ellsworth High School, Mid-Coast School of Technology in partnership with Medomak Valley High School, Mid-Maine Technical Center in partnership with Waterville High School and Bangor-United Technologies, which will get a total of $120,000 to fund four cohorts of students in partnership with Bangor and Hermon high schools and two first-year cohorts with Brewer High School and Hampden Academy.

Recipients of $20,000 grants include Sanford Regional Technical Center in partnership with Sanford High School, Lewiston Regional Technical Center in partnership with Edward Little High School, Tri-County Technical Center in partnership with Nokomis Regional High, Somerset Career and Technical Center in partnership with Skowhegan High School, Foster Technology Center in partnership with Mt. Blue High School, Region 3/Northern Penobscot Tech in partnership with Schenck High School and Portland Arts and Technology High School in partnership with Portland High School.

The funds provided by Maine DOE to the 12 CTE Centers will support professional development for staff, summer academies for students, stipends for college professors and contracted services with Bridge Year Educational Services, the nonprofit that will be managing the programs at all locations.

For more information about Career and Technical Education in Maine, visit www.maine.gov/doe/cte.