June 14, 2017
Delaware News
The News Journal
New law makes HS dropouts do exit interviews
Educators know the potential consequences of dropping out of high school can be dire — but do students and their parents? A new law drafted by Rep. Sean Matthews and signed into law in May seeks to guarantee they do before it’s too late to get their diploma and graduate.
Delaware children stuck at the ‘middle of the pack’
Delaware children remain at the middle of the pack when it comes to their well-being and health, new data shows. The state, ranked 23rd in the U.S. for overall child well-being, has climbed to No. 14 in the health rankings but still has more than 39,000 children living below the poverty line, according to a recent Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count study.
Cape Gazette
Two Cape students receive Darlene Kay Rust scholarships
Sarah Hyde received a $1,000 Darlene Kay Rust Nursing Scholarship at the Cape Henlopen Senior Awards Ceremony June 1. This scholarship is awarded to a deserving senior who intends to pursue a college degree in the study of nursing. Mari Horsey received a $500 scholarship.
Techincal.ly Delaware
Can UD’s Lori Pollock revolutionize computer-science education?
In 2012, the University of Delaware created Partner 4 Computer Science (Partner4CS), a program designed to provide K-12 instructors with the proper skills needed to teach computer development to students. Now in its fifth year, the program is still going strong.
Delaware 105.9
Sussex Tech leaders placed on paid leave following results of audit report
The Sussex Tech Board of Education has voted to place senior administrators on paid administrative leave, following an audit report that revealed financial improprieties with a local construction company. John Demby, Principal of Sussex Tech High School, and John Sell, Senior Supervisor of Support Services, are now in charge to deal with the District’s daily affairs.
National News
Education Week
Poor students face digital divide in how teachers learn to use tech
It’s like any other small video-game-development studio, except the coders are 10 and their games have titles like “Evil Donut Unicorn Ping Pong.” The scene unfolded in a classroom at South Fayette Intermediate School, about 20 minutes from downtown. The walls were covered with whiteboards and sticky notes.
Chalkbeat
Tennessee’s turnaround district is reaching the end of an era
For five years, the Achievement School District has been the Tennessee Department of Education’s primary vehicle of school turnaround. But that’s changing, bringing a dramatic era in Tennessee school reform to an end. The state-run district hatched in the Race to the Top era when Tennessee won a $500 million pot of federal funds in 2010 by promising in part to improve its most struggling schools.
The 74 Million
In praise of New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana — 3 states smartly using ESSA to help English learners
Advocates for English learners (ELs) celebrated the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act as a significant step forward for these students. The new law, which replaced the much-maligned No Child Left Behind, includes a number of big changes that give states room to rethink how they serve English learners.
Governing
How school districts could be laboratories of improvement
A lot of attention, at least in Washington, has focused on Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s secretary of education. Her advocacy for private-school vouchers is certainly controversial, but her ability as secretary to advance that agenda is actually quite limited. That’s because Congress stripped the Department of Education of much of its power in 2015 when it replaced the No Child Left Behind law with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), returning that authority to the states.
U.S. News & World Report
DeVos delivers tough love to charter school advocates
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday delivered a gut check to thousands of charter schools advocates gathered in Washington, D.C., reminding them that when it comes to school choice they are not the only player. “Charters’ success should be celebrated, but it’s equally important not to, quote, ‘become the man,’ Devos said at the annual conference of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.