August 10, 2017

Delaware News

Rodel Blog
Three things to know about Delaware state tests
Blog post by Jeremy Hidalgo, policy fellow, and Shyanne Miller, policy associate at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
It is that time of year again—the release of Smarter Assessment and SAT results. The Delaware Department of Education officially released data in late July. While reactions were mixed (see the official release from DDOE, as well as The News Journal’s reaction), we tried to look behind the numbers to shed a bit more light on the results.

Sussex Countian
State assessment results show more students proficient in math, English
Delaware students are participating in statewide mathematics and English language arts assessments, and more students are proficient in these subjects, according to preliminary 2017 state assessment results for grades three through eight and high school. Delaware’s participation rate in the state’s Smarter assessment increased from 98 percent in 2016 to 99 percent this year in ELA and mathematics.

ISTE
Turn your classroom into a personalized learning environment
Blog post by Robyn Howton, English department chair and the AVID coordinator at Mount Pleasant High School
By now you’ve probably heard of personalized learning, which tailors instruction, expression of learning and assessment to each student’s unique needs and preferences. While one-on-one instruction geared toward the strengths and challenges of each student has always been an ideal, only in recent years have technological advances allowed it to become a reality in public education.

National News

Education Week
Betsy DeVos approves ESSA plans for Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Wednesday gave Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico the green light on their plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. The three states join just one other, Delaware, whose plan was approved earlier this month. All four states will begin implementing the law when the 2017-18 school year kicks off. The states made some changes to win the department’s approval.

KQED News
As California bilingual education grows, teacher training is key
Zyanya Cazares, a sixth grade teacher who is starting a new assignment this fall teaching in a bilingual education program in Los Angeles, grew up speaking Spanish. But she was recently reminded that the casual, conversational Spanish she spoke at home is not the same as the formal form of the language she’s now being asked to teach.

The 74 Million
300 tutors, working with students 2 hours a day: One school network’s investment in personalized learning
Tree roots twisted around an ankle, and a large, inky eye peered out of scraggly branches growing up a leg. It was a strange image to show nearly 300 soon-to-be tutors in a New York University conference room, but the picture of the bizarre tattoo held an important message for the Great Oaks Charter School Network, sponsors of the three-day, all-staff training called Tutorpalooza.

The Chicago Tribune
Lawmakers hear how education-funding impasse will affect schools
With both state legislative chambers set to return to Springfield next week, Illinois House members on Wednesday heard testimony that put a spotlight on how schools across the state are dealing with the impasse over education funding. A new education funding formula is needed before money can flow to more than 800 school districts in the state. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner last week rewrote a bill passed by the General Assembly, and lawmakers haven’t overridden him, accepted his changes or come up with a compromise plan.

The Detroit News
Suit over right to quality education faces big test
As an unprecedented civil lawsuit over whether a quality education is a right faces its first major challenge, attorneys for Detroit students behind the litigation say conditions in the city’s schools have only gotten worse since they filed a year ago. U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III will hear arguments Thursday brought by seven Detroit schoolchildren, represented by a California public interest law firm, who are suing state officials to establish that literacy is a U.S. constitutional right.