Maine’s Alternative Certification Mentoring Program is now Maine SEEDS (Special Educator Engagement, Development and Support) and is growing resources for early career special educators, mentors and Local Education Authorities (LEAs) interested in creating their own new teacher pipelines!

• A little about Maine SEEDS:
  • SEEDS will continue to support novice special educators with conditional or emergency certificates by ensuring that a veteran special educator mentor is available to them, and by offering SED 625: MACM Special Education Internship at the University of Maine.
  • We will also continue providing SED mentors to districts and agencies that don’t have enough trained SED mentors on staff.
  • Beginning Oct. 2022, we will collaborate with Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities (MADSEC) to offer monthly online seminars, facilitated by veteran SED teachers, for first-year special educators.

• Over the next three years SEEDS will build three branches of support:
  • For early career special educators,
  • For veteran special educators and SED mentors, and
  • For LEAs and private agencies interested in developing “Grow Your Own” Special Educator programs.

Download our handbooks for new special education teachers and mentor teachers:

For More Information, please contact:

Valerie M. Smith, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Maine SEEDS
valerie.smith@maine.edu