April 12, 2016

Delaware

Department of Education
Academic enrichment program grants awarded
Press Release
The Delaware Department of Education has awarded four new 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) program grants under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The 21st CCLC programs are designed to provide students with academic enrichment activities to improve the academic success of students from Title I schools. Schools are designated as Title I based on high percentage of students who come from low-income families. The 21st CCLC programs are partnerships between a school (or schools) and community partner(s).

Report highlights Delaware schools ‘beating the odds’
Press Release
A report released today looks at how three high-needs Delaware schools are “beating the odds” by supporting strong instruction and student learning through effective educator support, collaboration, and evaluation practices. The Southern Regional Education (SREB) research “focuses on learning from teachers in high-needs schools who are effectively helping their students defy historic achievement statistics.” SREB studied three Delaware schools in Fall 2015: Capital School District’s North Dover Elementary, Indian River School District’s North Georgetown Elementary and Kuumba Academy charter school in Wilmington.

Delaware Public Media
Brandywine community members begin to organize for 2nd referendum try
The Brandywine School District is beginning work to build support for its second try at passing a tax referendum this May. A packed room of concerned teachers, parents and others gathered at Mount Pleasant Elementary school Monday night to discuss voter outreach efforts. The group was invited to share ideas. Maribeth Baxter, a parent of a Carrcroft Elementary student, says she’ll reach out to at least 10 members of the community to make sure they know the key points of the referendum and then ask them to do the same.

Newsworks
SAT to the rescue? Why Delaware and other states are embracing a new role for an old test
On April 12, Delaware’s high school juniors will take a standardized test. That in itself isn’t remarkable. Every year millions of kids across the country take statewide standardized tests. It’s a fact few students enjoy, and some adults decry. Delaware, however, is one of five states trying a new exam that many hope will combat the anti-testing malaise. And in this case, that new exam is actually an old one: the venerable SAT.

The Dover Post
Capital partners with author on Pre-K book
In an effort to better prepare the next generation of kindergartners, Capital School District officials are partnering with a Detroit author to create a book for Pre-K students. Charles Sheppard, principal at Towne Point Elementary School, has been collaborating with Alexander McNeece for over a year. They have altered one of McNeece’s books so it reflects Capital School District. “Joshua and Jasmine Go to Kindergarten” incorporates colors, shapes and numbers into the story to increase the knowledge of incoming kindergarten students.

The Newark Post
Resler withdraws from Christina School Board race
After initially filing for re-election last month, Christina School Board member David Resler withdrew his candidacy last week and decided not to seek a third term. Resler’s withdrawal cedes his District F seat to his would-be-challenger Meg Mason, a former Maclary Elementary School principal, and Resler is just fine with that. “I think the primary reason (I withdrew) is that we have another candidate in this district that is very capable, competent and has the ability to learn the board roles,” he said.

The Sussex County Post
Two new schools, additional classrooms among Indian River’s necessities
Needs to meet spiraling enrollment and classroom overcrowding have been identified and the Indian River School District is set to move forward. The district’s board of education Thursday night authorized the district to begin the certificate of necessity process for a capital improvement pitch to the state that includes construction of two new schools, classroom-wing expansion at Sussex Central High School and projects at three other elementary and middle schools.

National

Chron
Want to graduate college debt free? Teach in a rural area
The teacher shortage in poor, rural districts in South Carolina is so bad, the state is considering offering would-be instructors a way to graduate from college debt free. The catch? They have to spend eight years in the state’s neediest districts, where turnover is the worst and the closest Wal-Mart can be up to 45 minutes away. There’s another, perhaps even bigger, hurdle with Gov. Nikki Haley’s proposal: The state doesn’t have enough teachers interested in its current $5 million loan-forgiveness program.

Hudson Reporter
State funded pre-K: free for all?
Thirty-one school districts in New Jersey, including Hoboken, currently receive state funds for free pre-K 3 and 4 programs in the public schools. Now, some legislators hope to increase the number past 100 (approximately a sixth of the state’s districts) so that low-income parents in the other towns won’t have to pay for early child-care services either. The School Funding Reform Act of 2008 mandated that 31 districts with a certain number of “at-risk” students offer full-day preschool for 3- and 4-year-old children.

NPR
Gifted, but still learning English, many bright students get overlooked
Of the 3 million students identified as gifted in the U.S., English Language Learners are by far the most underrepresented. And nobody knows that better than 17-year-old Alejandra Galindo. “It’s just kind of hard to not see people who look like me in my classes,” she says. “I’m a minority in the gifted world.” Alejandra is a senior at North Canyon High School in Phoenix. Before she was identified as gifted, she was identified as an English Language Learner, or ELL.

The Atlantic
The extreme sacrifice Detroit parents make to access better schools
For thousands of Detroit families, the daily trek begins in darkness, before dawn. Myesha Williams, a mother of eight on Detroit’s west side, sets out at 7 a.m. to deliver her three school-aged sons to three different schools on opposite ends of the city—and she considers herself lucky. She has a car and a large family that can help share the driving. Total daily journey: up to 93.5 miles, 3 hours.

The Washington Post
Delaying algebra to high school, per Common Core, might be a miscalculation
I once lived in Scarsdale, N.Y., one of the most education-obsessed villages on the planet. During a big parents meeting at the public middle school, I amused myself by raising my hand and asking how they were going to decide who would be accelerated into algebra in eighth grade. It was an unkind and immature thing to do. As I expected, my question unleashed a wave of anxiety that forced administrators to abandon the night’s agenda and deal with nothing else until we went home.