Education Research
Reforming Teacher Evaluation in Maine: New Haven, Connecticut's Innovative Approach is a Model for Maine
Date: May 6, 2010Author: Stephen Bowen
"Groundbreaking" New Haven model innovatively incorporates student achievement data
See This ResultSteve Bowen - Testimony on Race to the Top Proposals
Date: March 8, 2010Author: Steve Bowen
Steve Bowen Testimony on Race to the Top Bills
See This ResultThe School Budget Validation Process: Stronger Voting Rights and Real Budget Savings for Maine Taxpayers
Date: January 25, 2010Author: Steve Bowen
School Budget Validation Process Under Attack
See This ResultTestimony in Opposition to LD 1739: "An Act to Remove the Requirement That the Annual Budget of a Regional School Unit Be Approved at a Budget Validation Referendum"
Date: January 25, 2010Author: Steven Bowen
Testimony in opposition to LD 1739, which takes away Maine people's right to vote on school budgets
See This ResultMaine Schools: Making the Grade? - Presentation
Date: January 23, 2010Author: Steve Bowen
Maine Shools: Making the Grade? - Presentation
See This ResultRacing to Catch Up
Date: January 13, 2010Author: Stephen Bowen
Without major changes in state policy, Maine has almost no chance of winning millions of dollars in federal funding for its schools.
See This ResultSetting the Record Straight on TABOR and Education in Colorado
Date: October 21, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen and Dr. William Moloney
Colorado Education outcomes are equal to or a bit better than those in Maine - and Colorado spends significantly less money per pupil.
See This ResultPRESENTATION: Labor Market Dynamics and Workforce Trends - Formidable Challenges for Maine
Date: July 20, 2009Author: John Dorrer
Mr. John Dorrer of the Maine Department of Labor, presented a compelling look at Maine's Labor Market and the anticipated demands for workers in the...
See This ResultConfronting the Critics: Myths and Facts about Charter Schools in Maine
Date: July 20, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen, M.Ed.
Maine is one of just ten states without charter school legislation. This costs Maine an innovative school model, and millions in federal funding...
See This ResultPublic Charter Schools: Centers for the Kind of Educational Innovation that Maine Needs
Date: May 5, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen
Now, more than ever, Maine's schools need new ideas and new ways of solving the budgetary and student achievement challenges they face. The state's...
See This ResultA Floor or a Ceiling? A Brief History of the Essential Programs and Services model
Date: April 29, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen
The Essential Programs and Services (EPS) model is a target budget figure. It was originally meant to signify to average cost to educate children to...
See This ResultEmpowering Students, Achieving Results Three reform approaches to bring greater accountability
Date: April 23, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen
Maine legislators are lobbied by the public colleges and universities for the growing annual tax subsidies.
What about new ideas to use public...
TESTIMONY: Steve Bowen on LD 750, School Budget Referenda
Date: April 6, 2009Author: Steve Bowen
The transparent referendum process for citizen approval of their school budgets in Maine has been a success! It has gotten citizens interested in...
See This ResultPresention: Fiscal Sanity Solutions
Date: March 20, 2009Author: Tarren Bragdon and Steve Bowen
In closing the Fiscal Sanity Tour, here are a number of Solutions!
This presentation by Tarren Bragdon and Steve Bowen reflects the massive...
FISCAL SANITY Issue Nine: A 55 percent state share of K-12 spending? We're already there.
Date: February 26, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen
In a 2004 vote, Maine people agreed that the state should fund 55 percent of local schools.
Is this happening?
It depends what figures are...
FISCAL SANITY Issue Seven: Is Maine's Public University System Meeting Needs of the Private Sector?
Date: February 19, 2009Author: J. Scott Moody
If the publicly subsidized Maine University System exists, in part, to educate and equip Maine people with the skills needed for good jobs here in...
See This ResultFISCAL SANITY Issue Six: Measuring Maine's Public Colleges: Non-Instructional Staffing...
Date: February 5, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen
The data is clear that Maine’s colleges and universities have a high degree of non-instructional spending. For policymakers looking to preserve the...
See This ResultFISCAL SANITY Slide Presentation
Date: January 26, 2009Author: J. Scott Moody and Steve Bowen
These are the slides from the Portland Fiscal Sanity Tour Presentation by J. Scott Moody and Steve Bowen of The Maine Heritage Policy Center.
They...
FISCAL SANITY Issue Three: Where The Money Is: Top 40 Fastest-Growing Maine Programs
Date: January 8, 2009Author: Stephen Bowen
As Maine's overspending threatens to pass $840 million in the next two-year budget, analysis by The Maine Heritage Policy Center idenifies a Top 40...
See This ResultFISCAL SANITY Issue Two: Cost per Degree Measuring Maine's Public and Private Colleges
Date: January 6, 2009Author: Tarren Bragdon and Stephen Bowen
Maine Taxpayers subsidize about one-third of the operating costs at the University and Community College Systems ($215 million in 2005-06).
How...
Improving Civic Education in Maine's Public Colleges and Universities
Date: November 18, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, M.Ed
As important as it may be for college students to volunteer in their towns, at soup kitchens and homeless shelters - these activities are no...
See This ResultUPDATE: 16 Reorganization Plans and the Threat to School Choice
Date: October 24, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen
In July, we released a list of what we felt to be the 15 consolidation plans that posed the greatest potential threat to school choice. This updated...
See This ResultReforming Teacher Pay in Maine - Part 2 Making Alternative Teacher Compensation Systems Work
Date: September 2, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, M.Ed.
The goals of any proposed change to current teacher pay systems must be clearly tied to a school district's objectives for student achievement. ...
See This ResultDistrict Consolidation and the Threat to School Choice: 15 Reorganization Plans to Watch
Date: July 10, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen
As Maine school districts work on consolidation, many towns offering school choice are considering new arrangements which would eliminate that...
See This ResultReforming Teacher Pay in Maine - Part 1: How Alternatives are Improving Student Outcomes
Date: June 9, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, M.Ed.
Student outcomes are likely to improve with innovative teacher compensations systems which reward teachers for improving their classroom skills and...
See This ResultReorganization and the Threat to Maine's Tradition of School Choice
Date: May 19, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, M.Ed.
School Choice, a popular "new" education options being explored across America, has been available in many Maine communities for generations. It...
See This ResultTransparency-Shedding Light on Government Activities II: The Hidden LD 1 Cost-Shift
Date: March 13, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, M. Ed.
The passage of LD 1 promised to increase education spending and lower property taxes - instead, costs have been shifted among budget categories to...
See This Result$217 Million in Reasonable Spending Cuts To Close Budget Gap
Date: March 12, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, Tarren Bragdon, Scott Moody
Facing a $190 million budget shortfall, The Maine Heritage Policy Center identifies $217 million in reasonable budget cuts that maintain services for...
See This ResultTransparency - Shedding Light on Government Activities I: How Will Maine Afford Retiree Health Care Benefits for State Employees and Public School Teachers?
Date: March 6, 2008Author: J. Scott Moody
The best solution for Maine Taxpayers would be to reduce the promised level of retiree health benefits - a necessary step that many states have...
See This ResultThe School Budget Validation Process: Empowering Voters, Achieving Savings
Date: February 11, 2008Author: Stephen Bowen, M.Ed.
As part if the school consolidation process, school budgets are presented to a town, those present vote, then the budget is put out to the citizens...
See This ResultBeyond School District Reorganization: A Vision for Education Reform
Date: December 31, 2007Author: Stephen Bowen, M. Ed.
This is a detailed review of Maine's School Consolidation process, goals, barriers to consolidation, budgeting and spending adjustments needed as...
See This ResultNew York's BOCES System: A Model for Maine?
Date: December 5, 2007Author: Stephen Bowen, M. Ed.
Did Maine's School Consolidation process need to be this difficult? New York's BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) were started by a...
See This ResultThe Mountain School at Winhall How A Small New England Community Saved Its School By Closing It
Date: November 14, 2007Author: Stephen Bowen, M. Ed.
The town of Winhall, VT closed their school and reopened it as a private school. The innovative process and striking outcome improvements are...
See This ResultMaine's Laptop Program is Improving Student Writing? Not So Fast...
Date: November 1, 2007Author: Stephen Bowen, M,Ed.
Maine's program of providing laptop computers for eighth grade students appears to have improved their abilities to edit their work, and to write...
See This ResultIs Bigger That Much Better? School District Size, High School Completion, and Post-Secondary Enrollment Rates in Maine
Date: October 23, 2007Author: Stephen L. Bowen, M. Ed.
Reviewing a wide variety of factors, this study shows that Bigger is not always Better when it comes to School Districts. Read Mr. Bowen's report...
See This ResultCivic Education in the University of Maine System
Date: September 18, 2007Author: Hon. Stephen L. Bowen, M. Ed.
It is possible to earn a degree from a state university in Maine without taking any traditional American History, Government or Economics courses. ...
See This ResultSavings Our Small School Is Privatization an Option?
Date: August 30, 2007Author: Hon. Stephen Bowen, M. Ed.
While state-mandated consolidation threatens small schools, there are alternatives available for communities determined to maintain their...
See This ResultHow Consolidation Threatens School Choice
Date: August 28, 2007Author: Stephen Bowen
As Maine school districts consolidate in an effort to gain efficiencies of scale, the longtime tradition of school choice is being threatened in some...
See This ResultThe Sinclair Act at 50 What History Tells Us about the Consequences of Consolidation
Date: August 23, 2007Author: Hon. Stephen L. Bowen, M. Ed.
Fifty years ago, Maine passed the Sinclair Act to consolidate smaller schools into larger systems to gain efficiency, improve quality and save tax...
See This ResultGovernor Job Bush: A Record of Leadership and Policy Accomplishment
Date: August 16, 2007Author: Steve Bowen, Tarren Bragdon, Jason Fortin and J. Scott Moody
Governor Jeb Bush, featured speaker at the 2007 Freedom and Opportunity Luncheon, was a popular, effective governor in Florida. His reforms to...
See This ResultMaine's "Town Tuitioning" Program Milton Friedman's School Choice Ideal?
Date: July 31, 2007Author: Stephen Bowen
Families across America are fighting for school choice, and look at Maine's town tuitioning program as a successful model that has worked for more...
See This ResultEducation Service Districts Hold the Key to a Consolidation Compromise
Date: May 8, 2007Author: Stephen L. Bowen
Maine has too many school districts, and several proposed plans to improve the situation, save tax dollars, preserve local control and ensure high...
See This ResultThe Promise of Public Charter Schools: Closing Maine's Achievement Gap
Date: April 13, 2007Author: Hon. Stephen L. Bowen, M. Ed.
Charter Schools mix the independence and choice of private schools without the tuition; and have some successful examples operating in Maine. This...
See This ResultEducational Service Districts in Maine: Western Maine Educational Collaborative
Date: February 27, 2007Author: Stephen L. Bowen
The Western Maine Education Collaborative is but one of many regional cooperative bodies across the state improving services to Maine schools while...
See This ResultEducation Service Districts Achieving school administrative cost savings while protecting local control and partental involvement
Date: January 25, 2007Author: Hon. Stephen L. Bowen, M. Ed.
In the midst of Consolidation Options, there is promise in exploring Education Service Districts (ESDs) as an advantage-laden option for Maine's...
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