Maine Course Pathways: Save the Date

INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 7
POLICY CODE: IKF

TO: Superintendents of Schools, High School Principals, Curriculum Coordinators, and CTE Directors
FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner
DATE: July 27, 2009
RE: Maine Course Pathways: Save the Date

The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) has partnered with the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) to develop a system, Maine Course Pathways (MCP), to confirm that high school students have a fair opportunity through local curricula to learn all of the standards of Maine’s Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction (MLR: PEI). The goal is to help schools validate curriculum and academic programs while maintaining local control over the content and sequence of courses.

In September 2009 the MDOE and EPIC will offer four regional workshops. The workshop will introduce the MCP system and will allow schools to understand the process for participating in MCP. In the workshop, educators will learn how to submit syllabi and identify standards and performance indicators taught in each high school and Career and Technical Education course.

When a school or Career and Technical Education Center commits to MCP, syllabi are created and submitted through the MCP software. Once submitted, trained experts from each content area review syllabi for evidence of standards and performance indicators identified by the teacher. After reviewers confirm a school’s syllabi, the school’s course pathways will be analyzed to determine the possible course sequences that will provide students a fair opportunity to meet Maine’s Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction in a given content area.

Course syllabi are powerful information-sharing and learning tools. EPIC has conducted years of research on the content of college and high school course syllabi. Although syllabi are more frequently used in college courses, EPIC’s research has shown that comprehensive syllabi are beneficial in the secondary school setting. Creating syllabi for the Maine Course Pathways project will have the following benefits for Maine high schools:

Working together on a common syllabus for each course gives teachers, school administrators and curriculum coordinators the opportunity to improve curricula alignment.

Teachers receive non-prescriptive external feedback from experts in their fields.

Students and parents have a clear, written document that outlines the actions and behaviors required to succeed in each course, as well as in the MLR: PEI addressed in each course.

Students become familiar with a document that is important in post-secondary courses.

The MDOE, in the 2008-2009 school-year, worked with 7 high schools and 2 Career and Technical Education schools to pilot the software and receive feedback from teachers and administrators on the software and the process.

The Maine Department of Education will send registration information in mid-August.
If you are interested in participation and can commit to the criteria above, please plan to participate in one of the following sessions:

September 18, 2009 – Presque Isle
September 21, 2009 – Bangor
September 22, 2009 – Lewiston
September 23, 2009 – Portland

Questions about the training can be directed to Jana Boody at jana.boody@maine.gov or Lora Downing at lora.downing@maine.gov