Superintendent's Report to Board

February 24, 2010
Victoria Burns, Superintendent

1. Congratulations to the Varsity Girls’ Basketball Team for playing in the tournament held at the Expo over February vacation. Numerous fans were present to cheer for our athletes!

2. I was notified that Jason Herod, MS Teacher and Peter Reaman, HS Teacher, applied for and received a $750 grant from Healthy Casco Bay to create a school garden. Congratulations to these teachers for working to improve instructional opportunities for our students!

3. Kathleen Potter, Board Member, and I attended the second meeting of the Gray and New Gloucester Coalition for Youth Substance Abuse Prevention on Thursday, February 11th at Stimson Hall, Gray. Representatives at the meeting included: Bruce Macomber, New Gloucester Parks and Recreation; Dean Bennett, Gray Recreation Director; Tracy Scheckel, Gray and New Gloucester Gazette; Joan Tremberth, Adult Ed Director; Gary Foster, Gray Citizen; Ellie Espling, New Gloucester Budget Committee; Kevin Joyce, Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office; Jeanne Adams, Parent and Business Owner, Donald Shead, Maine State Police; and representatives from 21 Reasons.
This was an organizational meeting to determine interest, and the Committee is asking that MSAD #15 sign a MOU to endorse the effort and be willing to serve as a host for the coalition. As host, MSAD #15 will provide an address and phone number for the coalition. The MOU is on tonight’s agenda.

4. On February 22nd and 23rd, I met with staff to inform them of the details of the 2010-11 school budget. The Board will hear an overview of the budget tonight.

5. Attached to your packet (see below) is an informational letter (78) from the Commissioner of Education with an invitation to a briefing on the Board Examination System. It will take place on Thursday, February 25th from noon to 2 p.m. in room 103 in the Cross Building in Augusta. There will be information regarding programs, such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma program and opportunities for High School piloting.

6. On February 11th, the Council for Continuous Progress in Academics met to plan two informational nights for the community. On March 11th, a supper will be held at the High School with the opportunity for all parents and community members to provide a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on the feedback from students, staff, parents and businesses regarding the District’s Vision. In addition, there will be opportunity for community members to learn about the Reinventing Schools Coalition (RISC). Another March meeting is scheduled for a formal presentation by a RISC representative. Invitations with more information will be going out the first week of March.

7. I met with Chris Farley, State Trooper, who is assigned to Gray to develop a working relationship with our schools to promote safety. Another trooper has been assigned to the schools in New Gloucester. Trooper Farley will attend an administrative meeting on March 16th to begin the partnership. We have emailed the State Police our safety plans as requested. This will insure a better response in case of an emergency when the state police may be called.

Invitation to Briefing on Board Examination Systems
INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 78
POLICY CODE: IHCD
TO: Superintendents of Schools and High School Principals
FROM: Susan A, Gendron, Commissioner
DATE: February 18, 2010
RE: Invitation to Briefing on Board Examination Systems
This letter is to invite you to a briefing on the Board Examination Systems program of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) with Marc Tucker, president.
The briefing for superintendents, high school principals, and school board members will take place on Thursday, February 25, 2010 from noon to 2 p.m. in Room 103 of the Cross Office Building, across from the State House, in Augusta. (Please see registration information below.) If you cannot make this briefing, please see information below regarding another briefing the same day that you could attend.
Maine has a wonderful opportunity to participate with seven other states in piloting some of the world’s best instructional systems and examinations with the intent of dramatically increasing the number of students who leave high school ready to succeed in college.
The National Center on Education and the Economy introduced the Board Examination idea in its groundbreaking report, Tough Choices or Tough Times, in late 2006. The report received wide acclaim, and was the cover feature of TIME magazine and praised broadly by educators and the media.
As Maine strives to insure our students are prepared for post-secondary education without remediation and to be globally competitive this is an opportunity for 10 to 20 high schools in Maine to pilot one of the Board Examination Systems. NCEE has recently received funding from the Gates Foundation to support this work and anticipates additional funding for the next three to four years through a combination of federal and private foundation support. The five Board Examination Systems programs already identified by NCEE include: ACT’s QualityCore; the Cambridge International Examination’s General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and their AICE program; the College Board’s Advanced Placement program; the International Baccalaureate Diploma program; and Pearson/Edexcel’s IGCSE and A-level programs.
Students from the pilot high schools who volunteer to participate will take the exams at the end of the 10th grade, and should they pass, be given a high school diploma and opportunity to enroll the next fall as a full-time student at any two-or-four year open admission post-secondary institution in the state without having to take remedial courses, if they choose to do so.
I would like to stress that the NCEE early graduation option is not our major focus, and I anticipate that only a handful of students would take that option each year. Rather the focus is on allowing high schools that choose to participate to adopt some of the best (and proven) instructional practices in the world, to provide a powerful system of support to our struggling students, our most able students, and everyone in between, and to motivate our high school students to take tough courses and study hard in school.
In an age of constrained resources, the Board Examination Systems program offers an opportunity to take advantage of enormous investments in time and money made by others – to stand on the shoulders of the countries that have developed the most successful instructional systems in the world.
Participation by schools in this pilot effort is entirely voluntary, and only students who choose to will participate.
As we prepare our proposal to the U.S. Department of Education for Race to the Top, I would like to invite you to this briefing with Marc Tucker.
Please register online at: http://www.maine.gov/education/21stcentury or by going directly to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BoardExaminations Please include your contact information where requested. In the event that the number of attendees exceeds the space in Room 103, we will contact you with a new location.
You will see that there is another briefing the same day for another audience. I strongly encourage you to attend the noon-time briefing which will be oriented toward school personnel, including school board members. However, if you are unable to that one, then please sign up for the other. We will also videotape or audiotape the briefing and post online at: http://www.maine.gov/education/21stcentury.
If you have additional questions, please contact David Connerty-Marin at 207-624-6620 or David.Connerty-Marin@Maine.gov