September 25, 2013

Local News

Delaware Department of Education
Three Delaware schools receive national Blue Ribbon School recognition
Three Delaware schools are among 286 schools nationwide that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recognized today as 2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools, based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in improving student academic achievement. “Congratulations to the educators, students and families whose hard work is being recognized nationally today,” Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said. “As we work together across the state to ensure every child graduates from our public schools with the skills and knowledge he or she needs to be ready for college and career, we can learn from these examples of success.”

WDDE
Three Delaware schools earn national Blue Ribbon status
The U.S. Education Department is recognizing three First State schools for making strides in academic achievement – one in each county Charter School of Wilmington in the Red Clay Consolidated School District, Allen Freer Elementary in the Caesar Rodney School District and Richard A. Shields Elementary in the Cape Henlopen School Districts are among 286 nationwide named 2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools. The award honors public and private K-through-12 schools whose students achieve at high academic levels or have made significant improvements. “Congratulations to the educators, students and families whose hard work is being recognized nationally today,” said Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy in a statement. “As we work together across the state to ensure every child graduates from our public schools with the skills and knowledge he or she needs to be ready for college and career, we can learn from these examples of success.”

State awards grant money for after school programs
Thirteen organizations running after school programs throughout Delaware are receiving a boost from the state. Governor Jack Markell announced the awards Tuesday, which are funded by $2.2 million in this year’s state budget. Four of programs are in Kent County, four are in New Castle County, and one is in Sussex County. One program will operate in sites in both Kent and Sussex, while three more will serve in both Kent and New Castle Counties.

Hockessin Community News
Charter School of Wilmington among three in Delaware to receive National Blue Ribbon recognition
The Charter School of Wilmington in the Red Clay Consolidated School District, Frear Elementary School in the Caesar Rodney School District, and Shields Elementary School in the Cape Henlopen School District are among the 236 public and 50 private schools in the U.S. that will be honored at an awards ceremony Nov. 18 to 19 in Washington, D.C. The award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools whose students achieve at very high levels or have made significant improvements are being made in students’ levels of achievement, especially among disadvantaged and minority students.

National News

Education Week
New research consortium targets D.C. schools
Schools in the nation’s capital end up the guinea pigs for many new education programs and policies, but now they will get a stronger say in research to figure out which of those experiments really work. The Education Consortium for Research and Evaluation, or EdCORE, is bringing together a set of research organizations with a presence in Washington to partner with district and charter schools, policymakers, and community groups to study how the District of Columbia’s often-changing education programs affect its students and teachers.

Arizona Star
Common Core name changes, standards remain
Gov. Jan Brewer ordered her agencies to stop using the term “Common Core’’ when referring to new education standards, in response to hostility from critics over what they see as a federal intrusion. In an executive order, the governor said she was “reaffirming Arizona’s right to set education policy.” Her order spells out “no standards or curriculum shall be imposed on Arizona by the federal government.” But it concedes the standards adopted by the state Board of Education in 2010 already are being implemented. And Brewer herself referred to them as Common Core in her State of the State speech and her budget request to the Legislature.

Albany Times-Union
State raises bar for future educators
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the state will require a minimum 3.0 grade point average for admission to its teacher and principal education programs at the State University of New York (SUNY). There are 17 teacher education programs at SUNY schools, and they supply 25% of the state’s teachers. Currently, there are no minimum standards for entrance to teacher preparation programs.

Education Next
The 2013 Education Next survey
Although opposition to Common Core education standards is growing, an overwhelming majority of Americans remain supportive of these standards. A majority also back government funding of preschool education for disadvantaged children. At the same time, Americans are becoming increasingly resistant to demands for greater education spending and higher teacher pay. They give a higher evaluation to private schools than to public ones in their local community, but opposition to market-oriented school-reform proposals such as performance pay for teachers and school vouchers seems to be on the rise. Those are just a few of the findings from the seventh annual Education Next (EdNext) poll administered under the auspices of the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) to a representative sample of the U.S. adult population.

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