June 25, 2013

Local News

The Cape Gazette
Cape school board debates Common Core
A discussion of Common Core standards brought out supporters and opponents of the concept during a recent Cape Henlopen school board meeting. Whitney Neal, director of grassroots for FreedomWorks Inc. in Washington, D.C., gave a PowerPoint presentation on the creation of the national standards, outlining ways the federally backed Common Core standards limit local school board decisions.

The Dover Post
Caesar Rodney technology team updates school board on new practices
While Caesar Rodney students are lounging at the beach or off on vacation, the Caesar Rodney School District technology department will be hard at work making sure the district’s computers, mobile devices, smart boards and wireless Internet are all ready for the following school year. The technology department made a presentation regarding the state and future of technology in the district at the June 18 board of education meeting.

National Council on Teacher Quality Newsletter
Preparing our teachers improves our future
An opinion by Gov. Jack Markell
Too many new teachers are not prepared for their first day in the classroom. And few programs today effectively train them, a report released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) concludes. These findings are sobering, since few professions have a greater impact on our nation’s future. The research is clear: Teacher quality is the most important school-related factor in a student’s academic success.

National News

The New York Times
Charter Schools are improving, a study says
An updated version of a widely cited study that found many students in charter schools were not performing as well as those in neighborhood public schools now shows that in a few states, charter schools are improving in some areas. The study, to be released Tuesday by Stanford University researchers at the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, examined the standardized test results of students enrolled in charter schools in 25 states, the District of Columbia and New York City.

Education Week
Districts turning summer school into learning labs
Summer school, once thought of as a place for failing students, is being overhauled. Districts and communities are shifting from offering duplicative Algebra 2 and U.S. history classes to using the summertime as an opportunity to experiment with innovative teaching and learning methods. This summer, students are learning the science involved in crime-scene investigations in Florida, the math involved in constructing infrastructure for a community center in Michigan, and how the themes of one novel can apply to various academic disciplines in California.

The Washington Post
Maryland teachers prepare for tougher math curriculum under Common Core
With the academic year finished, the work for 1,250 elementary teachers will continue as they prepare to teach a new, more rigorous mathematics curriculum that will roll out to more than 22,000 fourth- and fifth-grade students in August. While the material, aligned to national education standards under Common Core State Standards, is expected to be more challenging for students, it also will test teachers.

NorthJersey.com
N.J. moving ahead with plan to link test scores to teacher evaluations
New Jersey will forge ahead with plans to link student test scores to teachers’ evaluations, despite a new federal offer to delay using them in tenure decisions. Annual student progress reports will not factor into formal evaluations until 2015. Student growth will make up 30% of a teacher’s evaluation and will be used math and language arts teachers in grades 4 through 8.

The Tennessean
State education board passes new teacher pay plan over loud objection
Opponents to a new Tennessee rule that will reward teachers based on student outcomes or what subjects they teach instead of degrees and experience say they’ll fight back next legislative session. The state board of education passed the rule Friday over the noisy objections of more than 150 Tennessee Education Association union members from across Tennessee, who wore red to show solidarity.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Grim day arrives for those facing school layoffs
The district’s largest shedding of jobs in decades is wiping out entire categories, including school secretaries (307) and noontime aides (1,202), and nearly every assistant principal (127) and itinerant instrumental teacher (76). Most of the 600 other teachers got pink slips based on seniority and will spend their last day on the job Monday.

Related Topics: American Federation of Teachers, Believe2Become, blended learning, Cape Henlopen Board of Education, CCSS, Common Core State Standards, Curriculum 2.0, data collection, digital learning opportunities, Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation, Educator Effectiveness Academies, FreedomWorks Inc., innovative teaching, Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland State Education Association, National Summer Learning Association, NCTQ, New Jersey Education Association, No Child Left Behind, Philadelphia School District, professional development, Race to the Top, school improvement, Secretary Arne Duncan, student teaching, summer learning loss, teacher prep, Teacher Preparation, teacher quality, technology updates, wireless internet