2 minute read
Fast Facts
Interesting facts and quotes about Association membership and public education in Maine and beyond. Have an idea or stat you want shared? Send it along with your name and local to gbechard@maineea.org
By the Numbers
84%
Percentage of residents in Maine who say they respect teachers, according to a Gallup survey. Maine ranked 9th in the nation in teacher respect among residents and was the only New England state to make the top ten. Wyoming came in first at 89% and Pennsylvania last at only 69% of residents saying they respect teachers.
$3,061,878
The amount of money MEA-Retired members would have been paid for their volunteer services had they been paid in dollars instead of smiles and thanks, according to an AARP value translator calculator. In total, MEA-Retired donated 151,578 hours to help Maine residents in 2013.
1 out of every 100 Americans
The number of people the National Education Association represents.
$27,031
Average salary from 2009-2011 for Early Childhood Education Bachelor Degree holder from UMaine Farmington after the 1st year of graduation, according to Maine Department of Labor.
"We cannot ignore the mounting evidence that standardized test scores inject socio-economic bias into the admissions and financial-aid equations.”
- Hai-Lung Dai, Temple's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs on Temple University’s decision to make test scores optional for admission.
“Virtual schools may work for a very small proportion of students who have difficulty in a traditional classroom but the requirements to work independently mean that the children who are involved in virtual schools must be highly motivated and highly independent, and that is a very small proportion of students. Most students are going
to benefit from having adult interaction and peer interaction in a classroom and having social opportunities that public schools provide.”
Lois Kilby-Chesley, MEA President on Portland announcing it considered offering virtual learning through Pearson to homeschool students in the district.
“There is increasing evidence that the collision between old and new standards and assessments with already flawed evaluation systems are fraught with pitfalls and dangerous consequences for student learning and growth—especially when these systems are developed hastily with too much external pressure and too little time for collaboration. It is just common sense to allow a moratorium on high-stakes consequences of test scores.”
- NEA President Lily Eskelsen García in response to the Obama administration allowing flexibility in tying high-stakes consequences to student test scores for up to two years.
University of Maine Trustee Bonnie Newsom as she cast the only “no” vote during an initial vote to preserve American and New England studies graduate program, geosciences, and the arts and humanities major at Lewiston-Auburn College. Ultimately, the University of Maine System Board of Trustees voted to cut all three programs at USM.
