March 21, 2016

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Coastal Concerts awards $4,500 in student scholarships
Three Delaware high school students selected from among several competing applicants received $1,500 each from Coastal Concerts to help them pursue their music education. This marks the second year in a row that three scholarships have been awarded, thanks to the Dorothy and Elizabeth Scholarship Fund, established by a local couple to pay for one of the scholarships Coastal Concerts presents annually.

Smyrna – Clayton Sun – Times
Smyrna High School teacher advocates for career and technical education at national conference
Jay Davis, agricultural education teacher at Smyrna High School, attended the National Policy Seminar, sponsored by the Association for Career & Technical Education in Arlington, Virginia Feb. 29 to March 2. The event was designed for education professionals to gain insight about new educational laws and policies related to the Every Student Succeeds Act, Carl D. Perkins Federal funding, along with investments in workforce development.

The Dover Post
Capital board donates $17,000 to WHS
William Henry Middle School’s performance of “The Jungle Book,” convinced the Capital School District Board of Education to make a donation to the arts. During the March 16 Capital School District Board of Education meeting, they agreed to transfer $17,000 from the board’s budget to the school. The money will go toward improvements to the auditorium’s stage lighting.

The Milford Beacon
Lulu Ross inducts 12 into National Elementary Honor Society
Lulu Ross Elementary School honored 12 students at its eighth annual National Elementary Honor Society induction on March 10. Jay Lingo is the NEHS advisor for Ross. The following students were inducted into the Ross chapter: Travis Dittman, Jake Dee, Connor Knotts, Miracle Conde-Harris, Charlotte Del Rossi, Verity Layton, Meadow Tesoro, Joy Moultrie, Hailey Hall, Adam Nash, Emma Reed and Benjamin Gusciora.

The News Journal
Science, art and theater on display at Forwood
Dozens of kids stood like statues in the halls of their elementary school last Tuesday night, springing to life with the drop of a coin in the paper bags at their feet. They were part of a combination wax museum, science fair and art show at Forwood Elementary School. Dressed up as characters from their favorite books, they stayed still like wax figures and recited information about their characters when they heard coins drop.

At what cost? School referendums splinter communities
Spring is the time of year when education turns into politics, when school districts give residents a choice: Vote to raise property taxes or face teacher and program cuts. Nobody — not seniors, not parents, not even school officials who say the money is desperately needed — like asking for a tax hike. School supporters and parents bemoan the fact that educators and parents are forced to campaign for referendums, rather than focus on teaching children.

Referendum is all about helping Christina schoolchildren
Opinion by Leon Tucker, a public relations professional, education advocate and father of two sons.
I take my kids to school on most mornings and before I leave the neighborhood we drive by the same bunch of elementary school children waiting for the school bus. Be it in the warmth of the sun or the misery of freezing rain, they don’t seem to care as I rarely see them not smiling or joking around with each other. When they get to school, however, it’s a different story and it doesn’t look good.

National

Contra Costa Times
Oakland schools get $2.1 million in grants for tech-supported personalized learning
Six local schools will receive a share of a $2.1 million grant from the Rogers Family Foundation and other nonprofit partners to help bring personalized learning technology to the classroom. Among the grant recipients are ASCEND K-8 Lodestar, a school set to open in Fall 2016; Redwood Heights Elementary; Roosevelt Middle School; Urban Montessori; Urban Promise Academy and NGLC Learning.

NJ.com
N.J. school boards push to halt PARCC requirements
A South Jersey school district is taking a bold stance against the PARCC standardized test after it voted Monday night to approve a resolution calling for the Department of Education to halt key aspects of the controversial statewide assessment program. The Washington Township Board of Education, in Gloucester County, is the third district in the state to pass a resolution that aims to prevent a minimum passing score on PARCC to be required to graduate high school.

The American Prospect
Can Charlotte-Mecklenburg desegregate its schools…again?
It was not so long ago that Charlotte, North Carolina, was widely considered “the city that made desegregation work.” The Queen City first pioneered busing to desegregate schools in 1969, and when the Supreme Court upheld that strategy as a legal remedy for school segregation two years later in its landmark Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education ruling, districts across the South began busing students as well.

The Bismarck Tribune
Education to evolve with technology, personalized learning
Walk into a classroom today and students may have their cell phones out — not to text, but to use an app for math help or to complete a biology project. Such a scene is a sign of “21st century learning,” a common term used by teachers and administrators to describe the changing educational landscape. Some local educators say schools are approaching a tipping point as new technology enters the classroom and the role of teachers adapts to a world that demands critical thinking and collaboration.

The Hechinger Report
How the military created the best child care system in the nation
What would it take for Mississippi to transform its child care system from one of the lowest ranked in the nation to one of the best? The Department of Defense (DoD), whose services for children went from a struggling system to what many experts now say is the national gold standard of child care, may have the answers. The DoD prides itself on having high standards, holding centers accountable to meeting them and providing the support they need to do so.