June 3, 2016

Delaware

Coastal Point
Hats off to the Class of 2016
Hundreds of smiles, and a few tears, filled the football stadium at Indian River High School’s 47th commencement on May 30. Principal Bennett Murray congratulated the 193 graduates of the Class of 2016. In that diverse group, everyone is going somewhere different: 86 percent to post-secondary schools, 2 percent into the military and 11 percent into the workforce. Speakers recalled their fond and challenging memories from the past four years.

Sussex County Post
Retirement? Backward approach advised for Sussex Central grads moving forward
The 318 seniors in Sussex Central High School’s Class of 2016 had not yet received diplomas Wednesday night and already there was talk about retirement. Indeed, a backward approach from the future were words of wisdom from Delaware National Guard Brigadier General Michael Berry, keynote speaker at the June 1 commencement. “One of the most important pieces of advice I can offer is to sit down with a trusted mentor and develop a plan based on the backward planning model,” said Brig. Gen. Berry.

The News Journal
We’re missing a big preschool opportunity: Column
Opinion by Rebecca Givens Rolland, speech pathologist and specialist in early childhood development
Universal preschool has made its way into the presidential campaign, with Hillary Clinton backing more federal investment and Philadelphia’s sugary drink tax while Donald Trump suggests that “there’s nothing like starting young.” For many parents and educators, starting young means helping children learn letters and numbers. But there’s a more important skill set that we are neglecting: executive function skills such as how to pay attention, set goals and plan.

National

Education Week
Professional learning in ESSA: 3 next steps
Blog post by Stephanie Hirsh, executive director of Learning Forward
The U.S. Department of Education released draft regulations for implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) last week. The comment period for the regulations is now open, and I encourage educators to offer their input. I’d like to highlight three points related to professional learning that offer cause for celebration and opportunities to engage in further discussion about meaningful implementation of the law.

Houston Public Media
More Texas schools get ready to ‘blend’ tech, teaching
More schools in Greater Houston are combining new technology with traditional instruction, called blended learning. KIPP charter schools and the Pasadena Independent School District recently won grants to expand their efforts through a $5 million competition with the advocacy group, Raise Your Hand Texas. Consultant Heather Staker, who leads the research initiative Ready to Blend, worked on that competition.

Los Angeles Times
Gates Foundation failures show philanthropists shouldn’t be setting America’s public school agenda
Tucked away in a letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last week, along with proud notes about the foundation’s efforts to fight smoking and tropical diseases and its other accomplishments, was a section on education. Its tone was unmistakably chastened. “We’re facing the fact that it is a real struggle to make system wide change,” wrote the foundation’s CEO, Sue Desmond-Hellman. And a few lines later: “It is really tough to create more great public schools.”

Phildelphia Magazine
Why Pa.’s new school funding formula is still unfair and unconstitutional
Opinion by Michael Churchill, staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center
While politicians and advocates are celebrating the legislature’s passage last week of a student-based, fair formula for distributing new school funds, it is important to understand this reality: Our school funding system is as unconstitutional today as it was last week. Much about the formula is worthy of praise. Among other things, it will thankfully end the era in which funding went to districts based on close relationships to the leadership of the General Assembly.

The Hechinger Report
How one educator broke rules, influenced a state law and got all his students to graduation
Roger Cook, a superintendent in rural central Kentucky, took a risky path to becoming a champion for academic success. By his own admission, this former high school football coach says some of his methods broke the rules. He believed his students needed personalized help to be successful in school – and in life – and took action to make that happen. He says he refused to give up on any student. He boasts that none of his students drop out.