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$10 Million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Support Promising Futures High School Efforts

 

After months of hard work to fashion a compelling proposal centered on strengthening high schools, while dramatically increasing the number of students who pursue and complete a college education, Maine has been awarded a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This significant gift will complement and 'scale up' Maine's nationally recognized work based on the 1998 report Promising Futures: A Call to Improve Learning for Maine's Secondary Students.

The grant award -- announced on September 26, 2002 by the Gates Foundation's Executive Director for Education, Tom Vander Ark at a special gathering of Maine students, educators, and citizens at Portland High School -- makes Maine one of a select few sites in the nation where the Gates Foundation has a 'deep' investment. Significantly, the support of Maine's high school work is the first statewide initiative of the Gates Foundation. Earlier grant awards from the Gates Foundation to Maine include $1.3 million to help educators in leadership roles to use technology to improve instruction and $1 million to support professional development and training for middle level teachers implementing the Maine Learning Technology Initiative that is providing laptops to all 7th and 8th grade teachers and students.

Securing these critical funds entailed a tremendous effort by many Maine educators, working collaboratively. Below is a list of the key partners and a summary of the successful proposal

As planned, the initiative's day-to-day oversight and fiscal management will be undertaken by the George J. Mitchell Scholarship Institute, under the leadership of Executive Director, Colleen Quint and recently named Program Director, Pam Fisher.

 

Promising Futures for Maine's High School Students Partner Organizations

 

Several organizations will work together with the George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute to provide resources and expertise to schools throughout the state.

Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute will serve as the intermediary, coordinating entity, with a core mission focused on increasing the aspirations, preparedness, and access of Maine students to higher education.
Contact: Colleen Quint and Pam Fisher, 207-773-7700

Southern Maine Partnership at the University of Southern Maine will provide the expertise of one of Maine's premier university-based regional partnerships, which is closely involved in Promising Futures implementation, school-based coaching and place-based curriculum.
Contact: Lynne Miller and David Ruff, 207-780-5669

Maine School Leadership Network (MSLN) at the University of Maine will provide the resources in recruiting and preparing capable and promising educators to lead schools and produce high-quality learning for every student. MSLN is a project of the Maine Leadership consortium.
Contact: Gordon Donaldson, 207-581-2455

Seymour Papert Institute provides philosophical and strategic guidance to the project, particularly to the schools focusing on the design of technology-rich learning environments.
Contact: Seymour Papert, 207-374-5102

Center for Inquiry on Secondary Education/Maine Department of Education brings the resources and expertise of the Center to the implementation of Promising Futures. This includes institutes, trainings, and the convening of schools and leaders statewide and regionally. The Center also has the capacity to communicate and disseminate models developed at the Promising Futures Schools statewide. 
Contact: Norm Higgins and Susan Johnson, 207-624-6629

Maine Learning Technology Initiative will connect technology-rich high schools with the one-to-one access that students receive in middle schools, to ensure continued digital literacy as students progress through high school.
Contact: Elizabeth Manchester, 207-624-6769

 

Promising Futures for Maine's High School Students

 

Key Facts

  • The goal of the Promising Futures initiative is to develop high schools throughout Maine where all students -- especially those who live in low-income communities or in communities will low aspirations -- are prepared with the skills they need to succeed in college and the workforce.
  • The foundation's investment will help the initiative provide intensive support to 10 to 12 Maine high schools to implement the core principles of Promising Futures. This work will be shared with schools across Maine and will provide all of Maine's students with:

Personalized learning


~Integrated curriculum and wide range of approaches to solve real-world problems.
~Personal student learning plans for every student.
~Performance assessment as a means of demonstrating standards for graduation.

Connection with communities


~ Schools that work closely with their communities to create connections that support new kinds of learning for students.

Technology-rich environments


~ Projects using technology in all classes.
~Electronic searches and information retrieval for student research in all classes.

High Standards of literacy


~ Intensive reading and writing instruction in all classes.

Preparation for higher education


~ Early study at a technical college or four year college or university for all students before they graduate
~ Development of "admissions compacts" with at least one institution of higher education that articulates a path for higher education for school graduates.

Leadership Development

The Promising Futures high schools receiving support will share the lessons learned from their experiences with other Maine high schools.

Current and prospective high school principals will receive training to support school change.

Regional partnerships will be developed that create and support coalitions of like-minded schools that are moving towards full implementation of the Core Principles and Practices from Promising Futures.

These regional partnerships will receive support to build the technical capacity to implement a high quality school-coaching program that could extend to every high school in its region.

Statewide High School Reform

Partners of the initiative will work with schools, communities and public policy makers to raise awareness and understanding of the goals and strategies of the project.

Key education organizations -- such as the Maine Principals Association, the Maine School Management Association, the Coalition for Excellence in Education, and the Maine Education Association -- will be called on to support the project and the principles underlying Promising Futures, and to assist with the creation of a message in support of change.