State wins national education grant

BANGOR – Maine is one of 10 states to receive a National Governor’s Association grant to help increase high school graduation and college readiness rates throughout the state.

In its announcement on Thursday, the NGA did not disclose any specific amount for its Honors States Grant, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But awards of this type usually are more than $1 million, according to a news release from Gov. John Baldacci’s office.

The award will enable Maine to continue efforts to improve high schools and career and technical education centers, an effort that began in 1998 with the release of a high school improvement report issued by the Maine Department of Education.

Called Promising Futures: A Call to Improve Learning for Maine’s Secondary Students, that report has been recognized nationally as a blueprint for reform.

In a prepared statement on Thursday, Baldacci said the NGA award “shows that our education reforms are working and are recognized nationally as successful. Maine is a demonstrated leader in education reform.”

Deputy Commissioner Patrick Phillips said in an interview that the money will be used to support reform efforts in individual schools and also to launch a public information campaign to emphasize the importance of “shifting Maine’s educational programs” into preparing all students for lifelong learning.

“All students need to be prepared for college even though they might not go directly into postsecondary education,” he said.

The money also will be used to help schools collaborate with career and technical education centers to provide academic programs that better meet the needs of individual learning styles, Phillips said.

“One size fits all won’t serve us well in the future,” he said.

In the grant, Maine proposed the creation of a seamless pre-kindergarten through college public education system in which the state would evaluate whether the standards and assessments linked to the high school diploma reflect college and workplace expectations.

Additional goals set by Maine include redesigning low-performing high schools through literacy and early college programs; setting accountability targets for student success in the University of Maine System and Maine Community College Systems; and working to streamline the governance of the public education system.

The other states that received grants are: Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Virginia.

The selected states are required to match a portion of their grant amounts.

In a prepared statement, the NGA said the program provides two-year grants to continue work begun under NGA Chairman Virginia Gov. Mark Warner’s Redesigning the American High School initiative.

The work also builds on NGA’s ideas for improving America’s high schools released last February in conjunction with the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools.