LEARNS
About LEARNS
LEARNS provides resources and
information, consultation services, professional development and
technical assistance to educators, school teams, parents, students and
organizations statewide. We support cooperative home-school
partnerships, high expectations for students coupled with high quality
educational opportunities, and systemic change committed to inclusive
educational policies and practices that include all students in every
part of their school communities.
Originally established in 1989, LEARNS
was as a joint initiative of the Maine Department of Education, the
University of Maine and collaborating school districts. The initial
focus was inclusive education for students with severe disabilities.
More recently, LEARNS has been active in Maine's educational
restructuring and reform working to assure that each and every student
receives the benefit of the standards-based educational initiative. Our
commitment is to partner with local schools to support the professional
development and technical assistance needs of Maine educators, as they
provide meaningful high quality educational opportunities for all
students.
Samples of our collaborations:
-
LEARNS works closely with the Maine
Department of Education in the development and training surrounding
Maine's Alternate Assessment for the Maine Education Assessment
(MEA). As a result
students with the most significant disabilities are accessing the
standards in the Learning Results and demonstrating what they know
and can do in multiple and creative ways.
- LEARNS has a long-term partnership
with the Student Assistance Team Unit at Maine's Department of
Education. We collaborate in the revision of the SAT forms and process
periodically, to incorporate new information from educational
research. As part of team renewal training, LEARNS provides
evidence-based practices
and strategies for SATs to better support students with challenging
behavior.
- LEARNS staff have just completed a research
study in collaboration with CAST, the Center for Applied Special
Technology on literacy acquisition for students with significant
disabilities. LEARNS is committed to increasing the opportunities
for literacy acquisition for these students, through universal design,
balanced literacy instruction and the use of technology.
