Common Core opt-out gaining strength
ATLANTA – Thousands of students are opting out of new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core standards, defying the latest attempt by states to improve academic performance. This “opt-out”...
View ArticleSome question need for breakfast in the classroom
LOS ANGELES — The number of breakfasts served in the nation’s schools has doubled in the last two decades, a surge driven largely by a change in how districts deliver the food. Instead of providing...
View ArticleSouth Portland hit by spike in homeless students
SOUTH PORTLAND — An unexpected and significant increase in the number of homeless students in the city’s public schools this year has officials cautiously budgeting for a similar situation in the...
View ArticleWell-Ogunquit schools superintendent to leave post
The superintendent of the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District has announced that she will resign her post before the school year ends. Ellen H. Schneider, who joined the school district in 2013,...
View ArticleUMaine System considers seeking one, systemwide accreditation
The University of Maine System is exploring whether to seek a single accreditation for the entire system as part of its effort to have all seven campuses seen as a unified whole. Other four-year public...
View ArticlePortland parents weigh in on new start times for schools
After switching gears on various proposals to change school days’ start and end times, the Portland school board heard from more than a dozen parents at a public hearing Tuesday about the latest plan....
View ArticleCape Elizabeth school board faces $110,000 budget reduction
Cape Elizabeth’s School Board will hold a workshop Monday to figure out how to make a $110,359 budget cut imposed by the Town Council on the proposed 2015-2016 school spending plan. The council’s...
View ArticleMt. Blue schools see increase in students with special needs
Social problems in the home, including poverty, drug use and violence, along with better ways to identify and respond to learning disabilities have contributed to a 35 percent increase in students...
View ArticleUMA student graduation speaker learned to value studies
AUGUSTA — Andrew Breault had no plans to further his education after graduating from Waterville High School in 1980. “I was bored with school,” Breault said last week, sitting in the University of...
View ArticleSkowhegan debates school teams’ use of ‘Indians’
SKOWHEGAN — Whose heritage is honored by the Native American image and the name “Indians” for sports teams? Is it the players, parents and boosters of Skowhegan Area High School who say the nickname is...
View ArticleUMaine Fort Kent president announces retirement
The president of University of Maine Fort Kent announced his retirement on Tuesday, the latest in a string of top leadership changes at the seven-campus system that has started to affect the system’s...
View ArticleAfter false starts, board sets new hours for Portland schools
After parents’ complaints and repeated votes to shift school hours, the Portland school board has approved new start and end times for elementary and middle schools beginning next fall. The board is...
View ArticleState appears ready to start paying tuition bills at Maine charter schools
School officials across Maine are scaling back their estimates of what they need set aside to pay local students’ charter-school tuition bills in anticipation of changes in the way charter schools are...
View ArticleTwo bills aim to bring online schooling to all Maine students
Following the opening of two virtual charter schools in Maine, state officials are trying to find a way to offer a state-sponsored version that would offer online texts and courses for all Maine...
View ArticleRedford headlines Maine graduation speakers
They take two hours, cost participants tens of thousands of dollars and are remembered in detail by virtually no one, and this week, they begin around southern Maine. College graduation season starts...
View ArticleVote won’t end Skowhegan schools’‘Indians’ controversy
SKOWHEGAN — Sports teams and students in School Administrative District 54 will continue to identify themselves as the “Indians” after the school board voted against changing the nickname Thursday, but...
View ArticleHardest hit: College students who never finish school
MACHIAS — When Kat Ragot, 42, accepts her diploma for a bachelor of arts degree Saturday from the University of Maine at Machias, she will finish a journey that began 25 years ago and left her nearly...
View ArticleScott Berry, facility director
MANCHESTER — The last time Scott Berry took a college computer course, it was 1982 and computer programs then were stored on punch cards. This spring, he took a computer course online at the University...
View ArticleDouglas Haig, artist and veteran
MACHIAS — Douglas Haig, 32, studied for five years at Pratt Institute, an art school in New York City that costs about $45,000 a year in tuition and fees. He never graduated, though, because he...
View ArticleSteve Train, lobsterman
LONG ISLAND — Dropping out of college doesn’t lead to financial hardship in every case. When Steve Train, 48, left Northeastern University in Boston as a young man, he had only 12 courses left to take...
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