A study released last month by researchers at Western Michigan University found that only 27.7 percent of the full-time virtual schools run by the nation’s largest online education company, K12 Inc., met federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress goals, compared to 52 percent of public schools.
Colin Woodard
Colin Woodard is the Press Herald’s State and National Affairs Writer, and is often at work on large investigative projects. Born in Waterville and raised in western Maine, he was a foreign correspondent for two decades, reported from more than fifty countries on all seven continents, and witnessed the collapse of communism and its bloody aftermath in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. He’s written five books, including histories of Maine (The Lobster Coast), North America’s rival regional cultures (American Nations) and the Golden Age Pirates (Republic of Pirates), which was turned into a quickly forgotten NBC mini-series starring John Malkovich as Blackbeard. Since joining the Press Herald in 2012, he’s won a George Polk Award and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. He used to be an avid sailor and SCUBA diver, but with small kids at home, his hobbies now include sleeping and picking up toys.
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Those helping write virtual school policy positioned to profit from it
Stephen Bowen was excited and relieved. Maine’s education commissioner had just returned to his Augusta office last October after a three-day trip to San Francisco, where he attended a summit of conservative education reformers convened by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, which had paid for the trip. He’d heard presentations […]
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ON MAINE POLITICS: LePage keeps ’em guessing
Hand it to Gov. Paul LePage. The man knows how to get attention — and keep us guessing.
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LePage disagrees with EPA’s logic, but supports more river access for alewives
The EPA last month said Maine must take action to allow alewives above a dam on the St. Croix River.
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Low lobster prices spark protests
The abundance of Maine-caught lobster this summer has driven prices in the state to the lowest levels in a generation, sparking angry protests among lobstermen in New Brunswick.
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Maine lobster glut prompts protests in New Brunswick
The abundance of Maine-caught lobster this summer has driven prices in the state to the lowest levels in a generation, sparking angry protests among lobstermen in New Brunswick.
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From Capitol Hill to tying the knot: A look at power couple Susan Collins and Thomas Daffron
One of the most influential Maine political figures you’ve likely never heard of soon will tie the knot with the woman who will soon be the most powerful politician in the state.
Posted inPolitics, Senate
Collins, fiance ‘bring out best in each other’
The Maine senator and the political strategist Thomas Daffron share a long history of friendship and success.
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Major corporate players support Angus King’s Senate bid
Former Gov. Angus King’s U.S. Senate campaign has attracted the support of powerful national donors and political players, including some of the country’s most prominent corporate lobbyists, the head of the nation’s largest construction firm, and a corporate chieftain who once testified before Congress that smoking did not cause cancer.
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Sen. Susan Collins future husband, Thomas Daffron, was once her mentor on Capitol Hill
One of the most influential Maine political figures you’ve likely never heard of soon will tie the knot with the woman who will soon be the most powerful politician in the state.