MACHIAS, Maine — About two dozen area residents — most of them teachers or school system staff members — gathered at Rose Gafney Elementary School on Wednesday night to help the state Department of Education craft a $150 million grant request.
“We are looking for your input,” said state Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.
The grant is funded by federal stimulus money under the Race to the Top initiative, Gendron said, and all 50 states are competing for funding.
“Because 50 percent of the funds must be spent in Title 1 areas, which is based on poverty levels, Washington County should greatly benefit from this grant,” Gendron said.
Regional meetings have already been held in Westbrook, Orono and Farmington, and Gendron said that discussions at those locations were extremely helpful in crafting the grant application. The grant is due June 1 and will be approximately 100 pages long, she said. Maine should hear by September if it has been approved for funding.
The grant would provide funding to advance educational reform in four specific areas. The money could be used to:
ä Adopt standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.
ä Build data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction.
ä Recruit, develop, reward, and retain effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most.
ä Turn around the lowest-achieving schools.
Extra points go toward states that provide innovative solutions and strategies and have a proven record of success.
Gendron said Race to the Top winners will trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for states and local school districts throughout the country to follow as they too are hard at work on reforms that can transform schools for decades to come.
“Maine is already a leader,” she said. Educational experts from countries around the world come to Maine to learn from the state’s assessment tools, testing methods and innovative classroom and administrative methods.
The Nellie Mae Foundation has provided Maine with a $75,000 grant to hire a consultant, conduct regional meetings and prepare the application.
Gendron broke the participants up into small groups and each group listed what was working in their district and what they were doing to help their students.
“No one else in the country is working on reform like Maine,” she said.