March 18, 2016

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Delaware Tech receives $125,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase Foundation
Delaware Technical Community College is the recipient of a $125,000 grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation to expand pathways for careers in technology through a CISCO Certified Network Professional Routing and Switching certificate program. The grant covers program costs for instructors, student recruitment and equipment, as well as textbook and certification exam fees for students.

Delaware State News
Delaware teachers’ union wants standardized test nixed
Representatives of Delaware’s teachers’ union have unanimously voted to support the effort to eliminate the state’s standardized test. The test, known as the Smarter Balanced Assessment, has been criticized by educators, lawmakers and the public, who see it as overly difficult, time-consuming and largely useless. Delaware is now in its second year giving the test, which is used by 15 states.

Newark Post
Christina starts discussion on school climate, discipline
Nearly 40 Christina School District community members gathered around a large horseshoe table set up in a Gauger-Cobbs Middle School classroom on Tuesday night to take the first step toward addressing school climate and discipline issues in the district. The Board of Education workshop drew school principals, teachers and staff members as well as parents, administrators and even city officials to share their thoughts on what steps the district should take moving forward.

Newsworks
Delaware state board approves Wilmington redistricting plan
Delaware’s State Board of Education approved a plan Thursday to redraw district lines in Wilmington and steer more money toward the city’s low-income students and English language learners. The historic proposal passed by a 4-3 vote, ending months of back and forth between the state board and the citizen commission that drafted the plan.

Anti-drug message has a new messenger: Delaware’s school nurses
Laurie Hackett is nervous. She’s about to stand before the entire eighth grade at Louis L. Redding Middle School in Middletown, Delaware to preach the dangers of drug use. The content of the assembly should sound familiar to those who’ve encountered school-based drug education. There will be scary statistics, moving testimony, and pleas to reach out for help. The novelty here is Hackett. She isn’t a gym teacher. She isn’t a health educator. She isn’t a cop. She’s the school nurse.

The Milford Beacon
A taste of America: Albanian foreign exchange student finds new ‘home’
Oriana Bani is some 4,700 miles from her native land, but she said Milford has made her feel like she is at home. Bani, from Albania, is spending 10 months as a Milford High School student through the Council on International Educational Exchange. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to help people gain knowledge in a culturally diverse world. Bani jokes that she has already taken advantage of lots of opportunities that she would not have had in Albania.

The News Journal
State Board approves WEIC redistricting plan
It’s now up to the state Legislature to decide whether Wilmington’s schools will be redistricted after nearly 40 years of busing. The plan, which includes moving city students in the Christina School District into Red Clay schools, squeaked through the State Board of Education in a 4-3 vote. That outcome was brokered by Gov. Jack Markell in the tense weeks after a major disagreement between the Board and the group that developed the plan, the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission.

National

EdSource
Schools commit to reducing suspensions, but parents don’t have the details
Every one of California’s 50 largest school districts has committed to reducing the number of students sent home for behavioral infractions. But two years into a state requirement that districts let parents evaluate the path of progress, most of those 50 districts have not set specific suspension goals nor provided comparison rates that would allow parents to see if improvement is happening, according to a report released Thursday.

EdSurge
The elusive ‘F word’ in personalized learning
In the context of personalized learning, “fidelity” refers to the faithfulness of individual teachers and classes to the school’s driving instructional philosophy and approach. Do teachers actually stick to the school’s chosen personalized learning plan? Do they use the software and review/utilize data as often as they should? Do they take advantage of the power of the model, tools, and data to differentiate instruction on a daily basis? It depends.

PBS
Like taxes on sugary drinks, states find creative ways to fund preschool
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has a sweet idea to boost early-childhood education in his cash-strapped city. In his first budget address, the freshman mayor proposed a 3 cents-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks that he says would generate $400 million over the next five years, more than half of which would be allotted to universal pre-kindergarten in the city.

The Atlantic
The value of using podcasts in class
Two years ago, I was practically begging a student to read a novel in my high-school English class. This isn’t an unusual problem. The girl, who’s a relatively bright, college-bound athlete, told me that she “just gets too distracted after five minutes” of reading. When she promised that she would listen to the audiobook of the novel on the team bus that afternoon, I was less than enthused.

The Washington Post
Arne Duncan says he will focus on improving opportunities for Chicago youth
Arne Duncan, who stepped down as U.S. Education Secretary three months ago, announced Thursday that he is turning his attention to tackling the entangled problems of violence, unemployment and hopelessness among young adults in Chicago. He is opening a Chicago office for the Emerson Collective, a California-based philanthropy headed by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs.