Press Releases
March 1, 2010
GSP Award Grant to Support Major Federal Grant Program
A Partnership of Three Organizations Will Provide Technical Assistance to Grantees in the Smaller Learning Communities Program
The Great Schools Partnership was selected by the Academy for Education Development to be one of two primary technical-assistance subcontractors, along with the Center for Secondary School Redesign, for the U.S. Department of Education's Smaller Learning Communities Program. The three organizations will collaboratively develop a series of events, professional development opportunities, and products for the 214 project directors and more than 600 high schools currently involved in the federal program.
March 5, 2009
150K Grant to Support Breakthrough Instructional-Improvment Tool
Funding will be used to strengthen training programs and build new online resources
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, a $250 million philanthropy that supports "innovative professional development programs that strengthen teachers and their teaching in grades 9–12" has awarded the Great Schools Partnership a $149,709 grant to support the ongoing development of iWalkthrough, a cutting-edge tool that is helping revolutionize instructional-improvement efforts in Maine and around the country. The Partnership will use the funding to strengthen its iWalkthrough training program and build new interactive, Web-based resources that can deliver low-cost, high-quality support to high-need schools and districts working to strengthen academic instruction and athletic coaching for the benefit of their students.
December 15, 2008
$1M Grant Awarded to Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont—GSP to Coordinate the Initiative
Groundbreaking four-state collaboration will work to reinvent the high school experience
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation announced today that it has committed $1 million—which includes a $500,000 partnership grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—to support an ambitious multistate effort to transform the American high school for the 21st century: the New England Secondary School Consortium. Coordinated by the Great Schools Partnership, the Consortium is a pioneering educational partnership that will work to foster forward-thinking innovations in the design and delivery of secondary education across the New England region. The Consortium's bold goal is to ensure that by 2016 every public high school student in the four partner states will receive an education that will prepare them for college, career, and civic responsibility in our increasingly interconnected global community.
State Press Releases Announcing the New England Secondary School Consortium
Maine
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Vermont
October 17, 2008
New Study Reveals Why Boys Are Underachieving in School
Maine Boys Network asks more than 540 Maine boys about their perspectives on gender and learning
The Maine Boys Network released new findings from a year-long research project at a statewide conference at Bates College today. The preliminary report—The Gender Divided in Academic Engagement: Perspectives from Maine Boys and Young Men—details findings from 72 focus groups conducted in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges across Maine in 2007–2008. More than 540 boys and young men took part in the study, which explored their feelings and opinions on gender and schooling, as well as the relationships, experiences, and strategies that effectively engage them in the classroom and foster a love of learning. The report represents one of the first comprehensive investigations of the growing gender divide in academic engagement and achievement from the perspective of male students. Click HERE to read the report.
June 16, 2008
$200K Grant Awarded to Four Maine Public Schools
Innovative partnership will improve math and science instruction
The Maine Department of Education announced last week that it has awarded a three-year, $200,000 grant to the Southern Aroostook Math and Science Partnership, an innovative effort to improve math and science achievement in the region. The Partnership includes three public schools—East Grand School, Katahdin Middle/High School, and Southern Aroostook Community School—the Region Two School of Applied Technology in Houlton, the mathematics and science faculty of Northern Maine Community College, and the Great Schools Partnership. All six partners share the belief that math and science instruction in grades 6–12 must be improved to meet the demands of an increasingly knowledge-based, technology-driven global economy.
January 17, 2008
Report Shows Early College Opportunities Boost College-Going Rates
Dual enrollment a promising strategy for increasing student achievement and aspirations
A report issued by the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute presents convincing evidence that investing in early college opportunities for high school students pays great dividends. The findings show that students who face barriers to higher education, but who take college classes while still in high school, go on to college at rates of 80%, compared with 60% of their peers. The study examined the experiences of nearly 700 students at multiple early college sites across the state. Nearly three-quarters of these students would be the first in their family to pursue a four-year degree, and more than half improved their high school GPA after participating in an early college program.
November 5, 2007
Mt. Abram to Participate in National Study on College Readiness
The school's exemplary college-ready programs attract the notice of national experts
Mt. Abram Regional High School has been selected to participate in the College Readiness Evaluation for Schools and Teachers (CREST), a landmark study to determine how some of the nation's most effective high schools prepare their students for college and careers. As only one of 30 schools in the country to be so honored, Mt. Abram was selected for its exemplary college-readiness programs and practices following an intensive nomination and research process. On November 5–6, evaluators from the CREST programwill be visiting Mt. Abram to learn more about the innovative college-ready programs that have been used by the school to effectively increase college-enrollment rates.
September 25, 2007
Announcing the Great Schools Partnership at the Mitchell Institute
Educators from two Maine organizations join forces
The Great Schools Partnership officially announced today its incorporation as a nonprofit supporting organization of the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute. The newly created Partnership will work with educators and organizations across Maine and the nation to raise educational aspirations and achievement by creating equitable, rigorous, and personalized academic programs that prepare all students for college, work, and citizenship in the 21st century.
October 3, 2006
$2.4 Million Dollars Awarded to a Partnership of Five High Schools
The five schools will support Maine's ongoing school-improvement efforts
The U.S. Department of Education announced that it has awarded a $2,398,038 grant to Bonny Eagle High School, Lewiston High School, Noble High School, Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, and South Portland High School through the federal Smaller Learning Communities Program. This major grant will provide direct support to more than 6,000 Maine students enrolled in these high schools, while expanding statewide efforts to prepare all Maine high school students for college, work, and citizenship.
March 1, 2010
GSP Award Grant to Support Major Federal Grant Program
A Partnership of Three Organizations Will Provide Technical Assistance to Grantees in the Smaller Learning Communities Program
The Great Schools Partnership was selected by the Academy for Education Development to be one of two primary technical-assistance subcontractors, along with the Center for Secondary School Redesign, for the U.S. Department of Education's Smaller Learning Communities Program. The three organizations will collaboratively develop a series of events, professional development opportunities, and products for the 214 project directors and more than 600 high schools currently involved in the federal program.
March 5, 2009
150K Grant to Support Breakthrough Instructional-Improvment Tool
Funding will be used to strengthen training programs and build new online resources
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, a $250 million philanthropy that supports "innovative professional development programs that strengthen teachers and their teaching in grades 9–12" has awarded the Great Schools Partnership a $149,709 grant to support the ongoing development of iWalkthrough, a cutting-edge tool that is helping revolutionize instructional-improvement efforts in Maine and around the country. The Partnership will use the funding to strengthen its iWalkthrough training program and build new interactive, Web-based resources that can deliver low-cost, high-quality support to high-need schools and districts working to strengthen academic instruction and athletic coaching for the benefit of their students.
December 15, 2008
$1M Grant Awarded to Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont—GSP to Coordinate the Initiative
Groundbreaking four-state collaboration will work to reinvent the high school experience
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation announced today that it has committed $1 million—which includes a $500,000 partnership grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—to support an ambitious multistate effort to transform the American high school for the 21st century: the New England Secondary School Consortium. Coordinated by the Great Schools Partnership, the Consortium is a pioneering educational partnership that will work to foster forward-thinking innovations in the design and delivery of secondary education across the New England region. The Consortium's bold goal is to ensure that by 2016 every public high school student in the four partner states will receive an education that will prepare them for college, career, and civic responsibility in our increasingly interconnected global community.
State Press Releases Announcing the New England Secondary School Consortium
Maine
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Vermont
October 17, 2008
New Study Reveals Why Boys Are Underachieving in School
Maine Boys Network asks more than 540 Maine boys about their perspectives on gender and learning
The Maine Boys Network released new findings from a year-long research project at a statewide conference at Bates College today. The preliminary report—The Gender Divided in Academic Engagement: Perspectives from Maine Boys and Young Men—details findings from 72 focus groups conducted in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges across Maine in 2007–2008. More than 540 boys and young men took part in the study, which explored their feelings and opinions on gender and schooling, as well as the relationships, experiences, and strategies that effectively engage them in the classroom and foster a love of learning. The report represents one of the first comprehensive investigations of the growing gender divide in academic engagement and achievement from the perspective of male students. Click HERE to read the report.
June 16, 2008
$200K Grant Awarded to Four Maine Public Schools
Innovative partnership will improve math and science instruction
The Maine Department of Education announced last week that it has awarded a three-year, $200,000 grant to the Southern Aroostook Math and Science Partnership, an innovative effort to improve math and science achievement in the region. The Partnership includes three public schools—East Grand School, Katahdin Middle/High School, and Southern Aroostook Community School—the Region Two School of Applied Technology in Houlton, the mathematics and science faculty of Northern Maine Community College, and the Great Schools Partnership. All six partners share the belief that math and science instruction in grades 6–12 must be improved to meet the demands of an increasingly knowledge-based, technology-driven global economy.
January 17, 2008
Report Shows Early College Opportunities Boost College-Going Rates
Dual enrollment a promising strategy for increasing student achievement and aspirations
A report issued by the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute presents convincing evidence that investing in early college opportunities for high school students pays great dividends. The findings show that students who face barriers to higher education, but who take college classes while still in high school, go on to college at rates of 80%, compared with 60% of their peers. The study examined the experiences of nearly 700 students at multiple early college sites across the state. Nearly three-quarters of these students would be the first in their family to pursue a four-year degree, and more than half improved their high school GPA after participating in an early college program.
November 5, 2007
Mt. Abram to Participate in National Study on College Readiness
The school's exemplary college-ready programs attract the notice of national experts
Mt. Abram Regional High School has been selected to participate in the College Readiness Evaluation for Schools and Teachers (CREST), a landmark study to determine how some of the nation's most effective high schools prepare their students for college and careers. As only one of 30 schools in the country to be so honored, Mt. Abram was selected for its exemplary college-readiness programs and practices following an intensive nomination and research process. On November 5–6, evaluators from the CREST programwill be visiting Mt. Abram to learn more about the innovative college-ready programs that have been used by the school to effectively increase college-enrollment rates.
September 25, 2007
Announcing the Great Schools Partnership at the Mitchell Institute
Educators from two Maine organizations join forces
The Great Schools Partnership officially announced today its incorporation as a nonprofit supporting organization of the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute. The newly created Partnership will work with educators and organizations across Maine and the nation to raise educational aspirations and achievement by creating equitable, rigorous, and personalized academic programs that prepare all students for college, work, and citizenship in the 21st century.
October 3, 2006
$2.4 Million Dollars Awarded to a Partnership of Five High Schools
The five schools will support Maine's ongoing school-improvement efforts
The U.S. Department of Education announced that it has awarded a $2,398,038 grant to Bonny Eagle High School, Lewiston High School, Noble High School, Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, and South Portland High School through the federal Smaller Learning Communities Program. This major grant will provide direct support to more than 6,000 Maine students enrolled in these high schools, while expanding statewide efforts to prepare all Maine high school students for college, work, and citizenship.