July 27, 2017
Delaware News
Cape Gazette
Grants available to promote financial literacy education
For the seventh consecutive year, grant funds for Delaware schools and nonprofits to promote financial literacy across the state are now available through the state’s Financial Literacy Education Fund. “Delaware continues to lead the way in making financial education available to Delawareans from all walks of life,” said Gov. John Carney.
Delaware Business Times
State grant money available for financial education programs
State grant money is now available to support financial education programs offered by nonprofits. Grant applications are due by September 15. The state’s Financial Literacy Fund has awarded approximately $2 million to more than a dozen organizations working to improve financial literacy since the fund was established in 2010.
Delaware State News
Future remains uncertain for Delaware Board of Education
In May the Joint Finance Committee voted to defund the Delaware Board of Education, placing the body’s future in doubt. Committee members later walked back that action slightly by allowing the Office of Management and Budget to use funds to keep the board running. The board is set to meet today for the first time since the start of the new fiscal year July 1.
Sussex County Post
Another PLUS a minus for IRSD’s prime pick for new Ennis School
Geometry – triangle versus rectangle – is factoring in the timetable equation for construction of a new Howard T. Ennis School. Indian River School District’s board of education is weighing two options for the site of a new facility that would provide special education services for pupils pre-school to 21 with significant disabilities within the IRSD and sending districts.
National News
Education Week
U.S. children gain ground in home supports, federal data show
While child lead-poisoning problems have spurred concerns nationwide, new data from 23 federal agencies that work with children suggests children’s physical environments have become healthier and their homes more supportive, but both still show room for improvement. The report “America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being,” tracks longitudinal data on more than 40 benchmarks in children’s education, family supports, health, physical safety, and behavior for the nation’s more than 73.6 million children from birth through age 17.
The 74 Million
Data show charter school students graduating from college at three to five times national average
About a decade ago, 15 years into the public charter school movement, a few of the nation’s top charter networks quietly upped the ante on their own strategic goals. No longer was it sufficient to keep students “on track” to college. Nor was it enough to enroll 100 percent of your graduates in colleges. What mattered, concluded the charter leaders, was getting your students through college — ensuring they earned a four-year bachelor’s degree within six years of graduating from high school.
The Baltimore Sun
Maryland, Baltimore education officials will collaborate to help city’s worst performing schools
Maryland education officials will meet with administrators of the 20 worst performing schools in Baltimore over two days next week to find ways to turn them around. The state and city officials will then collaborate over the next year as they develop interventions that can improve the academic performance of students in those schools. In many cases, the schools have been low performing for years or even decades.
Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Can personalized learning prevail?
Commentary by Chester E. Finn, Jr., distinguished senior fellow and president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
I am 200 percent in favor of personalized learning, defined as enabling every child to move through the prescribed curriculum at his or her own speed, progressing on the basis of individual mastery of important skills and knowledge rather than in lockstep according to age, grade level, and end-of-year assessments.
USA Today
Trump donates his second-quarter salary to Education Department
President Trump has donated his second-quarter salary – totaling $100,000 – to the U.S. Department of Education, which will use the donation to help fund a summer camp focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – so-called STEM skills – at the department. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the donation Wednesday, telling reporters at a White House briefing that she was grateful for Trump’s “generous gift.”