September 25, 2014

Local News

Delaware Department of Education
Schools provide breakfast, lunch at no cost
A press release
This school year many students across Delaware have the opportunity to eat breakfast and lunch at school at no cost thanks to USDA’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP was enacted as a result of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and provides universal meal service to students in schools/districts that qualify. The CEP is an alternative to collecting, approving and verifying household eligibility applications for free and reduced price meal benefits.

Smyrna-Clayton Sun Times
Smyrna High School students earn Advanced Placement Scholars honors
Students at Smyrna High School continue to succeed on Advanced Placement tests, so much so that 24 SHS students were recognized this summer with AP Scholar Awards. Smyrna School District Curriculum Director Sandy Shalk said the success of the 2014 AP exams is wonderful and shows the district is creating a culture for AP success. He said taking the exams is more than just learning about a certain topic because the courses teach skills important to learning such as critical reading, writing, taking notes and persevering.

National News

The News Star
Education majors need more time in classroom
A Louisiana Department of Education survey found that most newly graduated teachers did not receive adequate preparation for what they would face in classrooms and should have spent more time with qualified teachers before they graduated.

Chronicle of Higher Education
In 11th-hour move, Education Department spares the road on loan defaults
On the eve of the much-anticipated release of its annual roundup of student-loan default rates, the Education Department has announced that it will spare some colleges whose high rates would have cost them their ability to award federal student aid.

Education Week
Education outcomes on the uptick for Latino students, report says
A new analysis shows promising trends of educational improvements for Latino youngsters, the largest racial/ethnic minority group of children in the United States.

Due process laws vary for teachers by state
The concept underpinning teacher due process is simple: Teachers should have the right to hear and contest charges against them before they lose their jobs. The reality of the laws governing those processes, though, is frequently far more complicated, a review of state due process laws shows. Among other things, they differ in the forum prescribed for such hearings, the timeline for completing them, and the kinds of evidence that can be introduced.

Denver Post
Hundreds of Jeffco students walk out in largest school board protest
Several hundred student’s in Colorado’s Jefferson County left classes once again in protest of school board decisions and proposed changes to history curriculum.

Boston Globe
Education official says school too focused on test preparation
The new chairwoman of the state Board of Education raised concerns Tuesday about the focus on standardized test preparation in Massachusetts schools, as board members discussed whether some districts give too many practice tests to prepare students for the MCAS.