Maine Schools for Excellence

Eighteen schools serving 5,500 students are embarking on a wide-ranging initiative during the 2011-12 academic year that ties together rigorous professional development for 450 teachers, constructive evaluation systems designed to help them improve their craft and performance bonuses that reward them for student success.

The Maine Schools for Excellence initiative is funded by a five-year Teacher Incentive Fund grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The participating Maine schools are working closely with the Maine Department of Education and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Arlington, Va.-based non-profit organization coordinating the grant award.

• Press release: Teachers take active role in focus on training, Aug. 31, 2011

Student Learning and Educator Effectiveness

Improving student learning and teacher effectiveness are at the heart of the Schools for Excellence project. The initiative addresses educator effectiveness by providing participating teachers and principals with a rigorous course of professional development offered through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

The National Board's Take One! program offers teachers a chance to work with colleagues as they learn about evidence-based instructional practices and reflect on their craft.

Take One! also moves teachers closer to earning their National Board Certification, a credential that indicates teachers have met a set of advanced standards specifically developed for their subject area and grade range.

School principals currently aren't eligible to pursue a National Board certification, but they're expected to have that opportunity within the next few years.

As part of the Schools for Excellence venture, the 18 participating schools - which come from five districts, both rural and urban - are working to develop evaluation instruments for their staff members that will take students' academic growth and achievement into account and offer teachers a constant stream of feedback about their practice from peers, supervisors, students and parents.

New Professional Opportunities

On top of standards-based professional development, the Schools for Excellence initiative is designed to open the doors to new professional opportunities for educators.

To start, the Teacher Incentive Fund grant makes funds available to pay teachers stipends for enrolling in Take One! professional development and earning the National Board certification.

The project also offers performance bonuses to teams of teachers and principals to reward them when they meet and exceed the data-driven goals they set for students' achievement.

In addition, educators can earn incentives when they take on leadership roles within their schools. Teachers, for example, can mentor newcomers to the field or facilitate collaboration among colleagues by leading professional learning communities.

Participating educators can earn up to $7,500 annually in bonuses funded with Teacher Incentive Fund money.

Attracting and Retaining High-Quality Teachers

The Schools for Excellence project aims to help participating schools address staffing challenges, in part by making funds available to offer market incentives to new instructors teaching hard-to-staff subjects or teaching in hard-to-staff regions. The project also makes resources available so districts can fund highly-trained mentors who guide new teachers through their first years on the job.

Performance-Based Pay

During the five-year length of the initiative, participating school districts will work to develop sustainable, performance-based pay systems that rely on multiple measures for determining pay and emphasize continued professional growth for instructors.

Contact

Scott Harrison, MBA, CCP
Project Director
Scott.Harrison@maine.gov

Sue Williams, NBCT
Professional Development Coordinator
Susan.V.Williams@maine.gov