September 24, 2014
Local News
The News Journal
Most Delaware grads not ready for college math
More than half of Delaware public school students who enroll in the state’s colleges must start with remedial courses that don’t count toward their degrees, which can delay graduation or lead to them drop out. To fix the problem, state education leaders have worked out a deal with Delaware’s colleges and universities so students who pass a new math class in their senior year are guaranteed to start college in a math class that will count for credit.
Why my school tax bill is actually too low to be fair
An op-ed by Jonathan B. Justice, School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware
My neighbor’s house, in the same school district but across the street, is worth 27 percent more than mine, yet her school tax bill for 2014 is more than a third lower than mine. I will pay an effective school tax rate of 0.4 percent, while my neighbor pays only 0.2 percent. Even with this neighborly inequity, my school tax bill is actually too low to be fair. The assessed value of my house is 21 percent of what I paid for it, but the overall ratio for our school district when my neighbor and I bought our houses was over 36 percent. We both pay too little compared to the average tax burden for property owners in our school district as a whole: 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, versus an average of more than 0.5 percent.
WHYY NewsWorks
Early learning academy opens in Wilmington
Delaware officials cut the ribbon on a new early childhood education program in Wilmington. EastSide Charter officially opened the doors to a new pre-kindergarten building, called the EastSide Early Learning Academy, on Tuesday. “We are not a daycare, said Dr. Lamont Brown, Principal of EastSide Charter. “Yes, we have 4 year olds, we actually have some 3 year olds but we are not a daycare. And we are not just a Pre-K center. We are a true early learning academy.”
The Moyer name should be enough to give Delaware charter school another chance
A commentary by John Watson, 2014 Delaware Press Communicator of the year
The state closed Moyer the last time in 2010, giving it a new charter in 2011. This time the state should do all it can to help Moyer and Principal Dorsey in his efforts to keep it open with a successful student body.
WDEL
EdWatch: Wilmington getting a new charter school
Great Oaks Charter School’s mission is college success, ensuring students get not only to college but through it. “There’s still a really alarming gap that exists on the post-secondary level with how many of our kids from under-resourced backgrounds are actually able to stay in college and be successful and graduate,” said Kia Childs, who will be the executive director of the new Wilmington school.
WDDE
Pilot program seeks to lower college-bound students need for remedial classes
Three Delaware high schools are piloting a new program aimed at reducing the number of college-bound kids that need remedial classes. Laurel, Woodbridge and Concord High Schools began offering a new math class this fall that would allow kids to skip remedial classes at Delaware colleges if they earn a 77 percent or higher mark.
National News
Education Week
Historic summit fueled push for K-12 standards
Twenty-five years ago this month, President George H.W. Bush and the nation’s governors took an unprecedented step that poured political accelerant on the nascent movement for standards-based education reform: They proclaimed that the country needed to set educational goals on issues ranging from early-childhood education to adult literacy, and to hold itself accountable—somehow—for meeting them.
New study: Adequate Yearly Progress not so bad
A new study out from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that there may, in fact, be some upside to No Child Left Behind’s much-maligned accountability system. Under the law, Adequate Year Progress, or AYP, required states to increase the number of students rated proficient on state tests each year, with the goal of reaching 100 percent proficiency by 2014. The law established tiered consequences for states that failed to meet the yearly proficiency goals, increasing in severity each subsequent year a school missed its target.
Chalkbeat New York
State ed chief rules city must put more librarians in middle and high schools
New York Education Commissioner John King has rejected the city’s request to employ fewer librarians in schools — in part because the city took too long to come up with an alternative plan to provide library services to students.
News & Observer
Review of Common Core education standards begin in NC
A new state commission on Monday started to tackle the job of recommending new academic standards for mathematics and English language arts to replace Common Core. Legislators who helped create the law establishing the commission said they did not want a new name slapped on Common Core, with maybe only one or two changes.
Hechinger Report
Common Core can help English learners in California, new study says
A new study argues that the rigorous Common Core standards represent both a challenge and a pathway that could help close the achievement gap for American students who enter school knowing little or no English.
WWTV
Lawmaker OK career, technical education bill
The Michigan Legislature has sent Gov. Rick Snyder legislation requiring the state to provide information about career and technical education programs to school officials who ask for it.