About the Maine State High School Equivalency Program (HEP)

“Perhaps nothing is so central to educational reform as personalized
and student-centered services.”

Promising Futures, Maine’s seminal secondary educational reform document, stressed the need to “recognize the individuality of each student’s learning path”
(Promising Futures, 1998, 22).

The Maine HEP project was awarded funding for a five year period by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Migrant Education, in July 2010. The project was designed with four major aims in mind to address the identified needs and gaps in Maine:

To identify eligible migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their immediate families and recruit their participation in the project in collaboration with the Maine Migrant Education Program, KMCC and other partners.
To assemble the full array of services and supports required to successfully support the completion of a high school equivalency program, enrollment in postsecondary educational programs, upgraded employment, and/or entering the military.
To align and leverage resources, and work to eliminate barriers that prevent access to education and career development by providing timely and responsive access to services and community supports.
To increase the capacity of local, regional, and state resources to more effectively serve the needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families.

Project Goal and Objectives

Goal: To significantly increase the number of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their immediate families who complete a Maine high school equivalency or diploma program and enter postsecondary education, training programs, upgraded employment, or the military.

Objective 1: Recruit and enroll migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their immediate families in Maine high school equivalency or diploma programs.
Objective 2: Increase the percentage of Maine HEP participants obtaining a GED each year of the grant, beginning with a baseline of 69%.
Objective 3: Increase the percentage of Maine HEP participants entering postsecondary education or training programs, upgrading their employment, or enlisting in the military each year, beginning with a baseline of 80%.

For more information about Maine HEP, please contact:

Maria Millard, Project Facilitator
maria@syntiro.org
Call or text: (207) 735-7198
1 (866) 291-0004 (toll free)

Debbie Gilmer, Project Director
gilmer@maine.edu