April 25, 2017

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Outdoor learning and environmental initiatives announced at The Jefferson School
The Jefferson School in Georgetown announced and dedicated a trio of educational initiatives related to outdoor learning and environmental stewardship. First, the school joined with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Delaware Forestry Service to design and install a Schoolyard Habitat Project. Every student in every class, 107 students in all, worked with forestry volunteers to plant five forest patches with native trees and shrubs.

Delaware 105.9
Last day of school for students in IRSD moved to June 9
At a meeting Monday night, the Indian River Board of Education approved a series of changes to the 2016-2017 school district calendar. The last day of school for pre-school students will be Friday, June 2 and the last day for teachers and paraprofessionals will be Tuesday, June 13. The changes are the result of unused surplus hours built into the calendar to compensate for weather-related school cancellations.

Newsworks
Gov. Carney to host telephone Town Hall on education budget Thursday night
Gov. John Carney and his education secretary will hold an hour-long town hall via telephone Thursday night to discuss his proposed $37 million in cuts and other issues in his proposed $1.4 billion budget for Delaware’s K-12 public schools. Carney’s office announced the Tele-Town Hall on Tuesday, urging educators, parents and other residents to participate in the 7:45 p.m. call with him and Education Secretary Susan Bunting.

Rodel Blog
Digging Deeper: Why graduation rates don’t tell the whole story
Blog post by Jenna Bucsak, senior program officer at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
It may be stating the obvious, but a high school diploma is not the sole determinant of student success. Instead, we usually need to examine a student’s entire academic career—from kindergarten through 12th grade—to get a picture of how well prepared they are to pursue their interests after high school. Likewise, disparities in academic achievement can offer insight into why low-income and minority students fall often behind their peers—and expose areas for intervention so all students have the best chance to pursue whichever options they choose after high school.

Sussex County Post
School safety monitor, School Resource Officer go beyond call of duty
In the eyes of Indian River School District Administrator of Student Services Preston “Pep” Lewis, Gary DeBlasis and Joseph Melvin want above and beyond the call of duty. Mr. DeBlasis, school safety monitor at Georgetown Elementary School, and Det. Melvin, a School Resource Officer in the district through the Georgetown Police Department, were on stage at the April 24 IRSD board of education meeting as co-recipients of the district’s Above & Beyond Award.

The Review
Education students stressed by costs of state requirements
The road to becoming a teacher is steeper than ever before, littered with money from the pockets of education majors. Several students and faculty members involved with education programs at the university said they are “frustrated” by the many financial barriers that students encounter in the process to become a teacher. Education students, by state law, must overcome a variety of obstacles just to receive a teaching certificate, and each hurdle comes with a troublesome price tag.

National News

EdSource
Panel endorses bill aimed at reducing number of college students in remedial classes
Reformers have scored legislative progress in their efforts to enroll many more California community college students in credit-bearing courses instead of remedial classes, with placements based on high school grades rather than just placement exams. Critics decry remedial classes as dead ends that often lead to students dropping out. Students too often feel trapped in remedial courses even though they might have done well if they were admitted directly into credit classes that count toward their diplomas, according to researchers.

NPR
Nation’s report card finds mixed grades for U.S. students in visual arts, music
For only the third time ever, the government released today a national report card examining the knowledge, understanding and abilities of U.S. eighth-graders in visual arts and music. And in many ways, the numbers aren’t great, with little progress shown in most categories since the last time the assessment was given in 2008. One bright spot: The achievement gap between Hispanic students and their white peers has narrowed.

The 74 Million
Kane: States and Governors must collaborate as they again learn to drive education under ESSA
With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, Congress tossed the keys for K-12 education back to states and school districts. However, you feel about the expanded federal role in K-12 education since No Child Left Behind was signed in 2002 — whether you saw it as a necessary nudge or federal overreach — that era has officially ended. Our schools need state and local leaders to take the education wheel now.

The Washington Post
New York City mayor announces plan to provide free pre-K for all 3-year-olds
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that his administration will soon launch an effort to provide free, full-day prekindergarten programs for all 3-year-olds in the city by 2021. The plan, which starts in the fall, calls for expanding Pre-K for All, a de Blasio program that is free for families and through which the city more than tripled the number of 4-year-olds in high-quality full-day prekindergarten.

Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Let’s leave the worst parts of NCLB behind
Commentary by Morgan Polikoff, associate professor of education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It turns out this adage applies not just to global politics, but also to state education policies, and groups on both the left and the right should take heed. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is among the most lamented education policies in recent memory, and few of NCLB’s provisions received as much scorn as its singular focus on grade-level proficiency as the sole measure of school performance.