June 15, 2016

Delaware

The Milford Beacon
Moving on up with Milford’s new superintendent
Kevin Dickerson has been a transportation supervisor, gym teacher and assistant principal. Soon he’ll have a new title, one of the most important positions in education—Milford School District Superintendent. He’s had his feet wet as assistant superintendent, so moving into the main spot isn’t that difficult of a transition, he said.

The News Journal
Editorial: Good advice for graduation speakers
Dear Class of 2016, before you become like us “grownups,” please help us “grownups.” At this time of year, adults like to stand up at podiums and tell students what they can expect from life now that their high school or college careers are complete. Sometimes, these speeches/addresses/remarks are supposed to be funny. Sometimes, they’re supposed to be sobering.

DelTech marks 50 years with president’s inauguration
Delaware Technical Community College inaugurated its fifth president on its 50th anniversary. Mark Brainard, who had been groomed for the position while he served under longtime Delaware Tech President Orlando George, was hired for the school’s top job two years ago, but his official inauguration was held on June 9, exactly 50 years after the legislation creating the community college was signed in 1966.

WBOC
School realignment plan approved by Cape Henlopen School Board
A controversial school realignment plan was approved Thursday night that will make the number of low-income students at the two Milton elementary schools more balanced. “Option O” was proposed by Superintendent Robert Fulton at the meeting, as a slightly amended version of the controversial “Option F,” which was proposed at the May 26 meeting.  “We have a lot of poverty in this district,” said Fulton.

WDEL
Wilmington redistricting proposal to be heard in House committee
A bill supporting redistricting in Wilmington and authorizing the Delaware State Board of Education to proceed with redistricting was introduced in the state House and assigned to the House Education Committee.  The bill stated that final approval of the transition and resource plan by the General Assembly and governor shall not constitute an endorsement of any revenue or spending measure and shall not bind the state to any action with regard to revenue and spending.

National

Education Week
Teachers still struggling to use tech to transform instruction, survey finds
A majority of K-12 educators responding to a new survey see themselves as risk takers or early adopters in using technology. But the exclusive survey, conducted by the Education Week Research Center for this year’s edition of Technology Counts, found that teachers, on the whole, still face systemic challenges in adapting their instruction to new technologies in transformative ways.

Newsworks
Philly district urged to recruit more black men to teach
A group of area teachers has detailed a plan to increase the number of black men in the profession. The Black Male Educators Report, compiled by a new organization called the Fellowship, calls for the Philadelphia School District to increase its recruitment of black men, incorporate more black men as paraprofessionals, and establish summer job opportunities for black men interested in education.

NPR
It doesn’t pay to be an early-childhood teacher
Why would she teach preschool when she could make a heck of a lot more money teaching kindergarten? It’s a question I’ve heard over and over again reporting on education. In some places, we pay early childhood teachers less than fast-food workers, less than tree trimmers. As a country, we’ve acknowledged the importance of early learning and yet, when you look at what we pay those educators, it doesn’t add up.

The Boston Globe
If the MCAS is so good, why are we ditching it?
As rain poured outside on the chilly evening of February 24, a group of Arlington elementary school parents was imagining a sunnier place — Dorothy’s trip down the yellow brick road. The exam, known as PARCC — which stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers — was aligned to the Common Core, a set of national educational standards for what students should be able to do in each grade in English and math.

The Tennessean
Nashville schools to sue state for education funding
The Metro Nashville Public Schools board voted Tuesday evening to sue the state for a greater share of education funding, saying Tennessee is not providing enough money to help teach English to children for whom it is a second language. The board approved the lawsuit, with six members in favor and two — Elissa Kim and Mary Pierce — abstaining.