August 4, 2016

Delaware News

Delaware Business Now
Education secretary praises Delaware’s pre-school investment
U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. praised Delaware’s pre-school investments during a visit to Wilmington this week. King and Gov. Jack Markell took turns reading a book to preschoolers in the Child Development Center at Delaware Technical & Community College’s George Campus in Wilmington before joining a roundtable discussion.

Delaware Public Media
TeenSHARP summer program prepares at-risk Delaware teens for college
Teen SHARP seeks out talented youth of color and prepares them for – and helps place them into – top universities across the country. Wilmington couple Atnre Alleyne and Tatiana Poladko Alleyne started dreaming TeenSHARP when they were in graduate school, and mentoring their 6th grade niece. TeenSHARP now serves 28 Delaware students from nine different high schools, partnering with Colonial and Brandywine school districts among others.

Survey indicates many Delawareans want more investment in public education
A new poll of 400 registered voters found Delawareans want more investment in public education and more support for students and families. The vast majority said they support voluntary pre-kindergarten for all Delaware students and want more funding to schools serving low-income students.

Delaware State News
Survey indicates dissatisfaction with state’s education system
“Of course we shouldn’t be satisfied until every student graduates ready for success, which is why we’ve focused on implementing our higher standards. Parents should demand continued progress, and the Vision Coalition’s work can help to ensure that strengthening all of our schools is a top priority of all state policymakers,” said Courtney McGregor, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jack Markell.

Delaware 105.9 FM
U.S. Secretary of Education visits Wilmington and praises Delaware’s education efforts
Secretary King called Delaware’s high quality early learning “nation leading”, and praised Markell for his 2011 $22 million investment in early education that launched a wave of improvements and better access to early learning programs.

Dover Post
DOE holds public hearings before altering regulations
The Delaware Department of Education is holding three August public hearings to obtain public comment on certain regulations. In accordance with Delaware Code, the Department of Education seeks public input on its regulations which are four years or older to determine if they should be modified or eliminated.

The News Journal
Delawareans want more education funding
Delaware wants more money spent on education and a different system for distributing those funds among schools, according to the results of a statewide poll conducted by the Vision Coalition of Delaware.

The Rodel Foundation
Delaware high schools to benefit from $400,000 in grants
Blog post by Jenna Bucsak, research associate, and Robert Adams, policy fellow at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Delaware educators and policymakers continue pushing to increase college access, success, and affordability for public school students. It’s led to powerful collaboration between schools, districts, and the state to ensure that graduating students can enroll and thrive in postsecondary education. Last week the Delaware Department of Education awarded over $400,000 in grants to nine schools and districts to expand this work during the 2016-17 school year.

Sussex County Post
IR students and alumni win over $10,000 in IR Alumni scholarships
This year, 10 students of all ages won college scholarships from the Indian River High School Alumni Association totaling more than $10,000. The alumni far surpassed their original goal of awarding four IR Pride Scholarships, which were presented to college students and to recent high school graduates at the Aug. 1 alumni meeting.

Vision Coalition of Delaware
Press release
Early learning, career access, and high-need supports top Delawareans’ wishlist in Vision Coalition Survey
Delaware voters say that career preparation and high-quality early learning are key strategies for improving local public schools, according to poll data collected by GBA Strategies in partnership with the Vision Coalition of Delaware.

National News

Education Dive
New science standards urge shift from ‘learning about’ to ‘figuring out’
In at least 16 states, science education is undergoing a serious transformation. The key is three-dimensional teaching and learning, and even districts in states that have not adopted the Next Generation Science Standards may want to consider the shift. As a K-12 science framework, the NGSS encourages teachers to help students build on prior knowledge and draw connections across science disciplines and grade levels to deepen their understanding from one year to the next.

Education Next
An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
Opinion by Chester E. Finn, Jr., distinguished senior fellow and president emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Especially considering how puny philanthropy is next to government, its greatest asset isn’t money—it’s independence, the singular ability to do things that government cannot or will not do. Occasionally, that means piloting something that, if successful, government may then do more of.

Education Week
Educators weigh learning value of Pokémon Go
Teachers see potential to use the Pokémon Go game to help teach local history, civics, and other lessons, but skeptics worry about privacy risks.

The Hechinger Report
Presentations and portfolios take the place of tests for some students
Do presentations, projects and portfolios give a better idea of what a student has learned than a class grade or a score on a standardized exam? And are they particularly valuable for students who have struggled in traditional high school classes? Many advocates believe that adopting such an approach to assessment for all students could spur teaching that aims to encourage thinking and reasoning, rather than just passing a test.

The Tennessean
Partnership aids Nashville schools’ plan to teach English learners
Within two years, STEM Prep and Metro Nashville Public Schools hope they can get 100 of the district’s most at-risk English learning students proficient in their second language through the charter school’s program.