Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Deals
Maine Yellow Pages
As we look toward a general election contest between Paul LePage and Libby Mitchell in November, there's plenty of debate potential when it comes to education. Here are some initial thoughts.
Libby Mitchell will have to do some convincing to get wholesale supporters of education reform behind her. (Eliot Cutler seems to have a good shot at that vote, though it seems doubtful that bloc could swing an election.)
The Maine Education Association might provide valuable help to Mitchell. The 25,000-member union, in fact, awarded Mitchell one of two "Friends of Education" awards at its representative assembly in May. The MEA recently posted more details about that event on its website.
In the award description (PDF warning, see p. 2), MEA President Chris Galgay praises Mitchell and fellow award recipient House Speaker Hannah Pingree as "lifesavers in a time of great peril."
"Had it not been for their efforts, school funding would be severely reduced, our health insurance programs would have been threatened, onerous reforms would have been dumped upon the desks of educators, and our students and schools would have suffered mightily," Galgay says in the statement.
Paul LePage will have to convince voters that his education platform supports boosting the achievement of students from Maine.
In a Republican gubernatorial forum on WCSH, LePage described the story of Foxcroft Academy and its success in boosting math scores among its students. As a number of blogs have documented, LePage describes the private school's efforts to attract Asian students. He says the school "brought the math scores way up" after recruiting Asian students.
That's great news for Foxcroft Academy, and the whole saga is likely a credit to the school's academic program. What LePage missed in that answer, though, is how that strategy bodes well for students from Maine attending Maine's public schools.
Archives
- Rewriting No Child Left Behind: What to expect
- Recurring themes, fresh outlook on education
- National pressure on Maine to allow charters
- The debate on administration, and the latest on the top administrator
- Private funding for "student-centered" learning
- Landing on the staff, not in the cabinet
- Education and the inauguration
- Home schooling, education jobs and Social Security: An education roundup
- A change in circumstances, and a change of heart
- Tonight, students challenge the candidates
- MEA's endorsement and Mitchell
- Worries of the administrative realm
- What's next for Maine students' Social Security numbers?
- Paying for performance, indirectly
- Beyond pay incentives
- Will there be evaluation momentum?
- Same SAT scores. Same questionable comparison?
- It had to be asked sooner or later
- Short of completely empty, and a chance to influence
- UPDATE: Fact-checking Paul LePage, and Common Core's tangled web
- How much and when?
- Zeroing in on "value added"
- Sierra Club: Maine has 3 "Cool Schools"
- Maine joining SSN ranks. Will parents go along?
- Some loose ends tied this week in Maine education
- Six in Maine go for i3
- A steeper cliff after EduJobs
- MEA and the favorable incumbents; updates to a data repository
- One federal pot out of reach, another in flux
- Ed Week: Maine's Race to the Top fate will be known tomorrow
- New graduation rates released, little gained so far
- An updated student-teacher ratio, and updated inconsistencies
- Reformist v. status quo, and a tempering force
- Could Race to the Top shrink?
- Midcoast project earns "pilot project" designation
- What the heck is Maine's student-teacher ratio?
- UPDATED: MEA announces it's Mitchell. Anyone surprised?
- On buy-in, below average
- Initial thoughts on a LePage v. Mitchell match-up
- Innovations that don't fit the national mold: Maine and Race to the Top
- Performance-based evaluations from the bottom up
- Choice phrasing in Race to the Top
- Breaking down buy-in
- For after-school programs, a risk apart from grant bungling
- Building buy-in: Maine at 68 for 215 and 14 for 55
- Choosing the evaluation panel's future
- Maine is in Race to the Top running
- Is MEA warming to Race to the Top?
- UPDATED: Will the budget referendum stay in place?
- Who knew? Department of Education stands in liberty's way
- Bold approaches beyond pilot-project phase
- Not down to 80, but getting closer
- Baldacci claiming credit where it's undue
- Not only plagiarism from Otten, but a lack of facts
- A tiff of irony, a question of purpose, and the administrators' absence
- Teacher evaluation catch-up and the would-be's on education
- A big week in Maine education
- 'Conversations' amid shadows
- A barrier comes down? A few more thoughts
- UPDATE: Sticking to the 'poison pill'
- UPDATE: Amended bill wouldn't do the trick
- UPDATE: More than Race to the Top hangs in the balance
- Hanging in the balance
- Evaluating teachers? Choose from one of the following
- Highlights from the data drop
- What do Delaware and Tennessee mean to Maine?
- 'A personal journey for next generation learners'
- Channeling consolidation's energy in Hancock County
- Innovating within existing infrastructure
- A model charter school law
- Preparing for another charter schools battle
- Will Maine stand a chance in Race to the Top?
Further Discussion
Here at PressHerald.com we value our readers and are committed to growing our community by encouraging you to add to the discussion. To ensure conscientious dialogue we have implemented a strict no-bullying policy. To participate, you must follow our Terms of Use.Questions about the article? Add them below and we’ll try to answer them or do a follow-up post as soon as we can. Technical problems? Email them to us with an exact description of the problem. Make sure to include:
- type of computer or mobile device your are using
- exact operating system and browser you are viewing the site on (TIP: You can easily determine your operating system here.)
Most...
Copyright ©2012 MaineToday Media, Inc.
