News Archive
Follow Page Keeley and members of the People to People India Science Delegation's trip to India
Follow Page Keeley and the members of her group from the People to People India Science Education Delegation on their trip to India.
Family members, friends, and colleagues of the People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs Science Education Delegation to India- Page invites you to "come along" with us to Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra by following our activities on this blog site. She will try and post regular updates and photos (internet connections and i-Pad cooperation permitting) so you can see what they are doing and leave comments if you wish. They look forward to sharing the highlights of their professional and cultural experiences with you. Page has already posted after arriving in Delhi.
Maine reports Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
Maine reports Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP):
Fewer than one third of schools making arbitrary targets
On October 2nd, The Maine Department of Education released its annual report on the progress of schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
For 2011-12, only 184 schools out of 608 in Maine, or 30 percent, are labeled as “Making AYP.” That compares to 44 percent of schools last year. The number of schools in “Continuous Improvement Priority Schools” (CIPS) status – meaning they have not met targets for at least two years in a row – increased from 137 last year to 223 this year.
As the federal law now exists, Maine schools are required each year to meet higher testing targets than the previous year in order to make adequate yearly progress. As a result, even as school performance remains the same, or even improves, fewer and fewer schools meet the increased progress requirements.
Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen said Maine will apply for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law that allows the state to develop and propose an alternative accountability system. The new system will reward schools making progress, base measures of achievement on student growth, not straight scores, and will include educator evaluation models that help assess teacher and administrator performance and support improved teaching through professional development and other efforts.
MMSA has and continues to provide support to K-12 schools across Maine in creating and/or sustaining a CIPS plan for improvement in mathematics. For a complete list of the types of professional development and CIPS plan components MMSA offers, follow this link.
The full AYP results for Maine schools for 2011-12 can be viewed at: http://www.maine.gov/education/pressreleases/ayp/index.html
Kick-off Event for two of our Math Science Partnerships projects
The Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, in partnership with the University of Maine Farmington, recently held an exciting kick-off event for two of our Math Science Partnerships projects. The day and a half long retreat style workshop took place at Point Lookout Resort and Conference Center in Northport, Maine on September 23rd and 24th.
Teacher participants came together from the Bangor area project (called LEARN Mathematics!) which includes United Technologies Center, Old Town High School, Orono High School, Brewer High School and Bangor Christian Schools; and the Rockland area project (called M4CTE) which includes Midcoast School of Technology, Thomaston Grammar School, Rockland and Medomak Valley Middle Schools, and Oceanside High School East and West campuses.
The opening activity Friday evening was an engineering design challenge. Teams of two or three teachers explored the generation of wind power using found objects to design, create, and test windmills. Test data was collected and presented, along with conclusions and critiques of the process, as the activity continued on Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon consisted of two break out sessions: One designed to better acquaint new participants with the goals, expectations and outcomes of projects and the other tailored for returning teacher-leaders who will be mentoring the newcomers throughout the year.
As we move in to the school year middle, high, and career technical education teachers in each project will meet monthly in regional Professional Learning Communities. These dine-and-discuss sessions will allow pairs, triads, or even teams of four teachers to collaboratively plan multi-day lessons that integrate mathematical concepts and theory with practical, hands-on applications. Based on the level of excitement generated by Friday evening’s activity, we expect innovative design challenges to be an integral part of this year’s lesson plans. As a way to demonstrate achievement, these lessons will provide students with opportunities to carry out investigations, collect and present data as evidence for their conclusions, and even engage in expeditionary or service learning projects.
After the first of the year, teachers will begin bringing their respective students together to co-teach the lessons. Typically these multi-day lessons include direct instruction in the classroom, hands-on instruction in a workshop setting, and off-site fieldwork or studies.
A key aspect of the professional development model used in both these projects is the use of self-reflection and feedback from colleagues to help teachers refine and improve their lessons as they make sustained improvements to their practice. Experienced teacher-leader participants, trained in earlier projects, will mentor and guide new participants.
A final monograph collection of lesson plans, ideas, and activities will be published by MMSA and disseminated throughout Maine next year.
The Reach Center’s Summer Conference held recently at Sebasco Harbor Resort
REACHing for the Stars
Who will be the future leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)? Who are the rising stars in school today? How do we identify and support these students? These are just some of the questions tackled by the participants at the Reach Center’s Summer Conference held recently at Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg, ME.
The Reach Center is a newly established initiative designed to identify, engage, and prepare promising middle and high school students in Maine for future study and work in the STEM areas. A select group of teachers from a diverse set of Maine schools were invited to come together to share their personal STEM journeys and to begin the process of shaping the future work of the Reach Center. Participants considered what activities, people or pivotal moments contributed most to their developing an interest in STEM. They also discussed roadblocks they encountered as a means of thinking about challenges that students may face in their own journeys. It became clear during discussions, that inspiration can come through a wide variety of sources and that an interest in and passion for STEM may develop at many different points in an individual’s educational and/or professional journey. The consensus was, however, that the earlier we can inspire students and the longer we can sustain their interest, the more likely they are to continue into STEM careers.
Over the course of the two days, the group brainstormed characteristics of “promising students” and considered a variety of ways in which these students might be identified both in traditional and in less conventional educational settings. Is it academic success, persistence, motivation, confidence, creative thinking, parental support, inspiring role models, novel opportunities, time or a combination of all of these that plays the most important role in creating a promising student? Is “promising” equivalent to school success? How do we define success? These and many other important questions came out of the rich discussions that took place. While there is no single way to reach every student, it was abundantly clear that inspiration is consistently drawn from people and experiences that make learning meaningful and relevant to students. Opportunities to interact with materials, to build, create, think, discuss and experience a concept in a hands-on way make a lasting impression.
Over time, the Reach Center plans to involve not only teachers, but also students, family members, local organizations, industry leaders, and others to help shape its work and to meet its goals of attracting, engaging, challenging and supporting Maine students with a passion for STEM.
Coming Soon: The Reach Center
We are pleased to announce that the Reach Center for promising mathematics and science students in Maine will be launched in June. This innovative Center, funded generously by an anonymous Maine donor, will focus on identifying, engaging, and preparing promising middle and high school students---especially those who need more opportunities to develop their passion for science. The Center, which will be housed in Augusta at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, involves a partnership between MMSA and the Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM). Check our website for more information over the summer.
