Science Standards Review 2023

Review Timeline and Summary

Timeline and Summary:

Winter 2023 Spring 2023 Summer 2023 Fall 2023 Winter 2024 Spring 2024 

 

  • Winter 2023 – Public comment sought, and public hearing held, on current standards.
    • On March 9th, 2023, as part of the scheduled periodic review of the Maine Learning Results, the Maine Department of Education sought public comments regarding the current science and engineering standards. These comments were used to inform the work of the standards revision teams and can be found here. The public comment period ended on April 6th, 2023. This was advertised through the Maine DOE newsroom, Maine DOE social media outlets, and the Maine Science Teachers Association.
    • On March 21st, 2023, from 3-5pm, in Room 103 of the Burton Cross Building, in Augusta, Maine DOE held a public hearing. One person spoke and their testimony was submitted as, and included with, the written comments.
  • Spring 2023 – Steering Committee is formed and convened.
    • On April 5th, 2023, the Maine Department of Education sent out invitations to educational leaders to join the science steering committee.
    • The Steering Committee convened on May 19th, 2023, from 9-4pm in room 103 of the Burton Cross Building in Augusta.
      • During the meeting the Maine Department of Education reviewed the steering committee’s purpose and laid out the work ahead.
      • The work was divided into four areas for the committee to consider and provide guidance through the blueprint. The four areas are as follows:
        • Current Standards – the committee was asked to consider the existing standards and provide guidance around areas where revision was necessary.
        • Public Comments – the committee was asked to consider the opinions shared through public comment and determine how they should be included in the guidance for the standards revision.
        • Relevant Statute – the committee was asked to provide guidance around how to implement the requirements of LD 1664, which expanded 4706. Instruction in American history, African American studies, Maine studies, Maine Native American history and the history of genocide.
        • Necessary Updates and Agreements – Each review cycle, based on stakeholder feedback received over the previous 5 years, the Department determines some necessary updates and agreements regarding the standards revision that apply to all content areas. The Steering Committee’s role is to provide guidance on how to best include the necessary update and/ or agreements in their specific content area. The necessary updates and/or agreements for this review cycle are:
          • Ensure that all content standards align to the common format and standardized language of: 1) strand: A body of knowledge in a content area identified by a simple title; 2) standard: enduring understandings and skills that students can apply and transfer to contexts that are new to the student; 3) performance expectation: building blocks to the standard and measurable articulations of what the student understands and can do.
          • Ensure that Wabanaki studies, African American studies, and the history of Genocide, including the Holocaust are incorporated in all content areas of the Maine Learning Results.
          • Incorporate conceptual understandings in each content area of the Maine Learning Results
        • The committee worked throughout the day to come to consensus on guidance of each of these four areas. By the end of the day, the committee had succeeded in creating much of the guidance, but where not able to come to consensus around how to make the current standards align with the common format or how to incorporate conceptual understandings. It was agreed that the Department would reach out to try reach consensus through committee e-mail discussion.
      • During the conversations at the May 19th meeting, committee members made proposals about how to address these two remaining areas, but there wasn’t time to fully get to consensus. The Department put together a form where the committee members could vote on the proposals and include comments and suggestions on what they supported or didn’t support. This poll was sent to the committee on May 30th.
        • The results of the poll showed that, though a majority of the members supported the proposals, there was not consensus. It was also clear from the comments entered by the dissenting members that the issue was that they did not support using a common definition of standards across the content areas and that they did not support incorporating conceptual understandings into the standards document.
        • More conversation was necessary, so the Department proceeded in trying to find a time for this committee to meet via video conference for 2 hours.
      • After several scheduling polls trying to find a time to meet, the committee reconvened on July 12th, 2023, from 3-5pm via video conference. During this meeting, the Department reminded the committee that their role was not to determine whether or not the agreements and necessary updates should happen, but rather to provide guidance on how the agreements and necessary updates should be incorporated into the science standards. Once that was clear to everyone, discussion commenced regarding possible guidance. The committee was able to come to consensus by the end of the meeting.
      • Following the meeting, the draft blueprint was shared with the committee for any further comments, that feedback was incorporated, and the finalized blueprint was shared with the steering committee on 7/19.
      • Click here to view the Science Standards Review Blueprint 2023.
    • Summer 2023 – Writing Teams convened, and standards revised.
      • On April 10th, 2023, the Maine Department of Education invited, via e-mail, all science teachers, to be part of the standards review writing teams. Additionally, the Maine DOE posted the call in our newsroom and on our social media sites. Educators were able to volunteer through June 2023.
      • Scheduling polls were sent out to all who responded and four days during the summer were selected: July 18, 19, 26, and 27th.
      • To support the work of incorporating Wabanaki studies, African American studies, and the history of Genocide, including the Holocaust, the Department brought in several community experts to support the writing teams.
      • The writing teams met and created a draft of the revised standards.
        • Working with members from tribes of the Wabanaki confederacy, Maine African American community members, and experts from the Holocaust and Human Rights Center, the science standards revision focused on incorporating these groups into the further explanation sections in the performance expectations.
        • Additionally, the teams updated the standards to describe what a student knows and is able to do.
        • The introduction has been revised and updated to include an awareness of both how science has benefitted humanity and also how it has been used by those with power to oppress and abuse other people.
        • The draft revision went through an internal DOE review and was approved to move forward.
      • Fall 2023
      • Winter 2024
        • The Maine DOE prepared and submitted provisional adoption of standards revision to the Secretary of State and Legislative Council.
        • The Legislature refer the rule as a legislative document to The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee where it was given LD 2182. 
        • The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing and work session before sending the proposed rules on to the full legislature.
      • Spring 2024
        • As a result of the democratic process of major substantive rulemaking in Maine State government, the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee has declined to authorize the proposed science content standards of the Maine Learning Results. The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee has directed the Maine Department of Education (Department) to leave the science standard unchanged. These will next be reviewed in five years as part of the regular cycle of revisions in alignment with statute. 
        • Recordings of the public hearing and the submitted testimony can be found on the Education and Cultural Affairs website or through the State of Maine Bill Tracking site. 
Writing Team Members

Name

School

Grade Level

Erin Magaw

 

pk-2; 3-5

Leah Galipeau-Eldridge

RSU 16

3-5

Natasha Domina

South Bristol (AOS 93)

3-5

Cameron Sutton

MSAD 17

6-8

Cheryl Marvinney

RSU 38

9-12

Christina Barrett

RSU 21

6-8

Diana Allen

Sanford

6-8

Eric Eisaman

Auburn School Department

9-12

Hillary Bellefleur

RSU 22

3-5

James Skrabak

Winslow

9-12

Joan Pierce

Winslow

9-12

Julie York

South Portland

9-12

Karen Boucher

Auburn

9-12

Kari Thurman

Bangor School Department

6-8

Kari White

Bangor School Department

9-12

Kelly Daigneault

Winslow Public Schools

9-12

Keri Phipps

Region 46, AOS94

9-12

Linda Bolland, PharmD MBA

South Portland

9-12

Lisa McLellan

RSU 21

9-12

Lynn Hanna

AOS 91

6-8

Maria Palopoli

Brunswick

3-5

Sandy Daniel

RSU 34

pk-2; 3-5

Shelby Mosher

Hancock Grammar School

6-8

Vanessa Klein

UMaine & Statewide through 4-H

pk-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-12
Steering Committee Members

Dr. Lori Banks is an Assistant Professor of Biology, and an Africana program committee member, at Bates College. She has a BS in Biology from Prairie View A&M University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Virology and Microbiology from Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Banks’ research focuses on drug discovery-related protein structure-function studies from a range of microbial targets. She designs and implements curricular models that incorporate graduate-level scientific research and medicine into undergraduate learning and works to increase the representation of historically excluded groups in STEM curriculum resources. Outside of her technical classes, she is the advisor for the Bates student chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), an instructor in the STEM Scholars program, and does scientific outreach work with Girl Scouts of Maine and other organizations.

Allison Braley works for RSU 25 in Bucksport Maine, as the District Technology Integrator, and teaches Computer Science at Bucksport Middle School. She has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, and is working towards her Masters of Science in Technology Education. Allison is the Vice President of the Maine chapter of CSTA (Computer Science Teachers of America), and won the 2022 CSTA Teaching Excellence Award for New England. 

Beth Byers Small

Kim Charmatz, Ph.D. is an Associate Director in Advising and part-time faculty member in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Southern Maine.   She specializes in advising students in the natural sciences and teaching and research in environmental education.  She is a facilitator for the environmental education curriculum Project WILD and Project WET.  Prior to joining USM, Dr. Charmatz taught science and environmental education methods to pre-service education students in New York and Florida, and elementary and middle school science in Maryland.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Virginia Tech, and a master’s degree in Elementary Education and Ph.D. in Science Education, Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Maryland. 

Olivia Griset (she, her) serves as the Executive Director of the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA). MEEA is Maine's statewide network that supports educators, youth and individuals in building environmental awareness and action by centering equity and advancing systemic change. Olivia works in collaboration to innovate solutions that result in more equitable, sustainable, and healthy Maine communities. Olivia is deeply engaged in movement building at national and state level holding leadership positions at the North American Environmental Education Association and at the Maine Nature Based Education Consortium. Olivia’s experiences as a fisheries biologist, as a rural Maine public high school life science teacher, community-based environmental educator, and family nature club organizer lend a unique perspective on environmental education movement-building. While a classroom teacher Olivia was recognized as a National Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educator, one of only 5 in the country in 2009. When not working on environmental education and equity projects you can find Olivia playing music, working in the garden, or skiing through the woods with her partner Todd and their daughters Lucy and Charlotte and puppy Cora.

Dr. Tom Keller

Allison Miller

Shelly Mogul entered the teaching profession upon graduating from University of Maine at Farmington.  Most of her career was spent in Auburn first as a biology teacher at Edward Little High School (her alma mater) and then as the district’s Curriculum Director. In the fall of 2021, after 26 years in Auburn, 14 of those years as the Curriculum Director, Shelly made the move to the role of Curriculum Director in MSAD44.  Shelly has been an active member of the professional education community throughout her career.  She was the 2014 Curriculum Leader of the Year and served two terms as the President of the Maine Curriculum Leaders Association (MCLA).  Currently Shelly serves as a member of the Professional Standards Board. Throughout her career, she has maintained a passion for science education, developing active, NextGen aligned, engaging elementary science units with teachers in Auburn and now working with Telstar teachers to support innovative learning pathways with a science focus.

John Neptune

Angela Oechslie

Julianne Opperman

Leigh Peake joined Gulf of Maine Research Institute as Chief Education Officer in 2014 to direct the evolution of GMRI's STEM education programs across Maine and the Northeast.  Leigh came to GMRI after a long career as a curriculum developer, educational publishing executive, and entrepreneur, including fifteen years at Heinemann Publishing in Portsmouth NH, four years as President of Corwin and Sr. VP of SAGE Publications in California, and origination of the role of Director of New Enterprise Initiatives at Education Development Center (EDC) in Waltham MA. Leigh brings her entrepreneurial spirit and product development experience to creating models of education that break down the walls between in- and out-of-school learning. On the national scale, Leigh brings a practitioner perspective into dialogues around advancing STEM education. She places high value on creating genuine partnerships between researchers and practitioners and is Principal Investigator on numerous federal awards that reflect this commitment. In that vein, she established GMRI's Learning Sciences Lab and hired its first Principal Investigator to explore how people across the lifespan gain knowledge, interest, and agency around data, models, climate science, and climate change adaptation. Leigh started her career as a teacher and comes from a family of educators, including a grandfather who ran a one-room schoolhouse in rural Virginia. She is an alumna of Smith College and received her Master’s Degree from Brandeis University.

Lacey Todd

John Van Dis is the education director at Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, working with Hurricane Island educators and teachers to create and facilitate student-centered learning opportunities through place- and community-based education. John has taught grades 4 - 12 over the past 10 years, most recently at Islesboro Central School before joining Hurricane Island. John has a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Bowdoin, and a M.S. Ed in Teaching and Learning from the ETEP program at USM. He holds K-8 General Ed, 7-12 Life Science, and 7-12 Physical Science certifications in Maine, and is qualified to teach AP Env. Science, AP Biology, and AP Physics 1. 

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