Maine ASCD Weblog

Please Vote!

A week from today, November 6th is Election Day. No, not the BIG one we have already been bombarded into thinking about. No, there are no Hillarys, Mitts, Rudys, or Baracks on this one. But there are some Bond Issues that could effect education in Maine.

Here is a link to information about the Bond Issues located on Maine.gov website.

You will need to visit the election information page in you local area to get info on all of the specific local elections. Sorry, I could not find a statewide comprehensive website with this info. I guess even the media are not paying much attention.

You can also vote by Absentee Ballot [links to PDF ballot form - requires plug-in]

~John Brandt

WSJ Recommended Reading and Technology

The Wall Street Journal On-Line posted an article this week with some "recommended reading" for teachers on integrating technology. Tim Magner, director of the office of educational technology for the U.S. Department of Education, is featured in the article and recommends nine books.

The first book on this list is "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms," by Will Richardson. Richardson, now a technology consultant, was in Maine recently as the keynote at the ACTEM fall conference MainEducation 2007. The conference, which this year celebrated its 20th anniversary, brings together education technology experts from around the state to discuss the latest advances in how to integrate technology and education. While I have not read Richardson's book, I did hear his keynote and attended his preconference session. I also follow his daily blog, Weblogg-ed which speaks to the same topic. If you missed the conference, Richardson's keynote address can be viewed online.

Other books recommended by Magner included:

• Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative," by Ken Robinson
• "Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family/School Partnerships," by Anne T. Henderson, Vivian Johnson, Karen L. Mapp and Don Davies
• "Don't Bother Me Mom -- I'm Learning!" by Marc Prensky
• "What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy," by James Paul Gee
• "The Flickering Mind, Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology," by Todd Oppenheimer
• "Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation," by Don Tapscott
• "Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century," by David Franklin Warlick (Warlick presented at last year's ACTEM conference and this summer in Castine)
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills, www.21stcenturyskills.org

I should also mention the article in yesterday's Portland Press Herald about the research report from the University of Southern Maine that suggests the deployments of laptop computers to Maine's middle school students may be paying off in higher scores in writing. To quote the article:

Maine Education Assessment scores indicate that 49 percent of eighth-graders were proficient in 2005 in writing, compared to 29 percent in 2000.

And it wasn't just a function of taking the writing portion of the test using a computer and keyboard. Students who used pen and paper and students who used a computer keyboard showed similar improvements on the test, (David) Silvernail said.

During the same period, math scores were unchanged and science scores rose by 2 points, while reading scores actually dropped 3 points, Silvernail said. Writing showed the biggest improvement: 7 points, from 530 to 537, he said.

Silvernail said it's unrealistic to expect big increases on standardized tests tied to laptops, but writing is the exception.

~John Brandt

More Room At The Inn

If you have been following the website for the Northeast ASCD Affiliate Conference, you know that we have already broken all records for registration and attendance. At this point over 600 people have registered and the Boston Park Plaza has run out of accommodations for the conference.

We have been able to secure an additional block of rooms at the Boston Sheraton hotel near the Prudential Center. Information about how to access those rooms at the special conference rate are posted on the NEASCD website.

If you are planning on attending the conference this year, I would not wait much longer as it looks like we will sell out for the third year in a row!

~John Brandt

Taxes and Teachers

I just received this "tax tip" e-mail from our accountants Macdonald, Page & Co. Since it deals with good news for teachers about taxes, I thought I'd pass it along. My thanks to the folks at Macdonald, Page . . . and the folks at the IRS too.

Teachers can easily escape the tough deferred compensation rules.

Teachers who work nine or ten months during the school year often are paid (or may have the choice to be paid) over a period of twelve months. In a news release and frequently asked questions (FAQs) posted on its website, the IRS has reassured such teachers that they will not become victims of the Tax Code's draconian deferred compensation rules. These rules could cause a teacher to be taxed before he receives some of his pay. However, under the regulations, teachers can easily avoid the problem. For example, take the case of a teacher who earns compensation from Sept. 15 of one year through June 30 of the next year. The teacher could elect to defer compensation earned during that period on any date before Sept. 15 of the first year without running afoul of the deferred compensation rules, but only if no amount is deferred beyond Oct. 31 of the next year. No particular form is necessary for the election, it does not have to be made each year if the arrangement provides that a pre-existing election remains in place until the employee changes it, and the election does not have to be filed with the IRS.

~John Brandt

More Controversy

How much controversy can one school district generate in one school year?

Well if you are Portland, Maine, I guess the sky’s the limit.

Following the very public scourging that took place this summer after it was revealed that the Portland School District had a bit of a financial problem which ultimately resulted in the resignations of the superintendent and the finance manager, now the same district is embroiled in a new brouhaha. This latest comes from a decision made last week by the Portland School Committee to allow the health center located in one of the district’s middle schools to start providing contraceptives to students.

The firestorm that has followed has involved everyone from the Bishop of Portland, to the governor to national cable news outlets. Everyone apparently has a strong opinion.

You may not find consensus on whether this was the right decision or the wrong decision, but you will find consensus that this was, at the very least, bad timing.

The saddest part of this whole story is that these two controversies have very little to do with education. They have distracted all the attention away from the otherwise good work that so many teachers, administrators, students and parents in Portland are doing to educate the children of that community.

There is another lesson to be learned here. We can only hope that folks in Portland learn it real quick.

~John Brandt

Fly Me To The Moon

I was playing around with some Frank Sinatra audio clips this weekend while I was pulling together a video collage of some photos I took at my niece's wedding in New York last week. Frank's sentimental music seems to still resonate when it comes to weddings and romance. So, the song "Fly Me To the Moon" began to bounce through my brain when I read this e-mail inviting me to "pass the word" about a new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education site.

The invitation states:

Journey through the Universe is a national science education initiative that engages entire communities using education programs in the Earth and space sciences and space exploration to inspire and educate. The initiative embraces the notion that - it takes a community to educate a child - which is the basis for the program¹s Learning Community Model of program delivery.

The program offers a broad array of grade K-12 programming, curricular content, and resources that a community can use to create a customized Journey through the Universe program: reflecting their strategic needs in STEM education growing from local standards of teaching and learning and NCLB; that can be delivered systemically across an entire school district; and that is designed to be sustainable.

It looks kinda cool, but then I'm just one of those "junior exploders" who never grew up.

~John Brandt

Busy Times

It goes without saying that the fall is a busy time for all educators. For the small staff at Maine ASCD this is also very true. BTW, our staff includes two part-time people who work almost full-time at this time of the year.

The busyness has been created by having a very successful fall conference - Leadership in Literacy: A School-Wide Partnership presented by Maine ASCD's own Peter Lancia. The conference was held at the beautiful Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport and 80+ Maine educators enjoyed the fine presentation.

Also contributing to the busyness has been a record-breaking number of registrations for the Northeast ASCD Affiliate Conference. This event, now in its 11th year, is featuring an all-star cast of speakers ranging from Rick & Becky DuFour, to Doug Reeves, to Mike Schmoker, to Pam Robbins with many other great presenters. Over 450 people have now registered to attend which is more than 200 over last year at this exact time. As Maine ASCD is the fiscal agent and registrar for this event, the office has been jumping!

Throw in a niece's wedding in New York and a presentation at the ACTEM fall conference, an life has been very interesting.

So, I apologize for not keeping the blog up to date, and will try to make some postings today to offset that.

~John Brandt