KidsRSU

It’s great to see that our new DOE commissioner Steve Bowen embraces technology.  He’s comfortable enough to use twitter, blog on Wordpress and savy enough to have registered a new domain name for the Maine DOE - mainedoenews.net - in order to write about his ideas and beliefs.

Here’s an article about the bills currently in Augusta regarding standards-based diplomas…
Setting high standards, and sticking to them

A news article by Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen

There’s something that stands out to me about the schools I’ve visited since becoming Commissioner that have taken major steps toward implementing a standards-based model of education.

It’s not just that students at these schools are making choices about how they’ll learn and how they’ll demonstrate to their teachers that they’ve met the expectations set out for them.

It’s that if you ask a student in Shelly Moody’s fourth-grade class at Williams Elementary School in Oakland or Kelly Grantham’s seventh-grade English class at Massabesic Middle School in East Waterboro about what they’re doing, you’ll be taken aback by the answer.

Any student in those classes will tell you what standard they’re working to meet, how they’re becoming proficient in that skill, and what they’ll do next. They’ll tell you how what they’re doing figures into the class’ code of conduct they helped develop at the start of the school year. And they’ll explain why they chose the approach they did to meet the standard.

These students are not only learning the skills they’re expected to master. They’re developing something else: a literacy about learning.

On Friday, the Maine Legislature’s Education Committee unanimously passed L.D. 949, a bill that pushes Maine to that point where every student will graduate with a standards-based diploma — a diploma that indicates a student has mastered the expectations in each content area, not simply put in a specified amount of time at school.

Should that bill make its way through the rest of the legislative process, it’s inevitable that the standards-based model will expand to more Maine schools.

When that happens, the districts that have already started the transformation will be a helpful resource to those districts at the beginning.

And based on my experience in East Waterboro and Oakland, the students will be the standards-based model’s most articulate spokespeople.

News source →
http://mainedoenews.net/2011/05/13/toward-literacy-learning/

RSU_Budget_Flyer_FY12.pdf

Please read all the news in the latest Coordinated School Health Programs newsletter:

Our Vision
What is a serving?
How can you celebrate a job well done without using food treats?
No-fuss snacks
Upcoming meeting dates

5210_CSHP_May2011_news.pdf

Please click on the link to view the Warrant Articles.

Budget_Warrant_Articles_for_RSU_2_FY12.pdf

Did you know that RSU2 continues to emphasize teacher professional development in all our schools so that our teachers continue to reach all of the learning needs of our students?

RSU2 April Spring 2011 Newsletter

Bids will be accepted until Wednesday, APRIL 27th @ 9:00 AM. See the attachment for full details, and for more information contact:

Katie Spear
Transportation Director
RSU # 2
Monmouth/Richmond
207-485-3556

for_sale.pdf

Forty students from RSU2 high schools and middle schools gathered with 40 students from Messalonskee on March 31st to talk about what makes our schools work well and what needs to improve to make our schools more effective for student learning. Student facilitators helped run the daylong conference, held at the Governor Hill Mansion in Augusta. Following much discussion about schools and learning, the final activity had students working together in groups to create an ideal school. The RSU2 school community can be proud of these student leaders who shared serious ideas about improving our schools and who made a commitment to take on a leadership role in school change. 

Emily and Kyrie, students from Hall-Dale High School, present ideas to improve schools.

80 students gather to talk about school change.

Monmouth students share their ideas.

Students from Richmond explain their ideal school.