March 17, 2015
Delaware News
WDDE
First State celebrates anniversary of school based health centers
Adolescence is a time of critical development, when mental and physical needs grow more complicated and challenging. If help dealing with them can’t be found at home, the school environment can have a powerful impact on teenagers needing assistance to cope. That’s the idea behind building school-based health centers.
Wesley College names its new school president
Dover’s Wesley College has named its new school president. Robert E. Clark will begin work as the College’s 17th president in July. Clark, a former Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S Naval Academy, retires this summer from the U.S. Navy.
Cape Gazette
Task force calls for two new schools
The latest task force formed to address the future of Cape’s four elementary schools has recommended new elementary schools in Milton and Rehoboth and purchasing land for a new Sussex Consortium.
Comcast Newsmakers
Education and Pathways to Prosperity
Elena Russo talks with Jack Markell, Governor of Delaware. They discuss Education and Pathways to Prosperity for students in the State of Delaware.
The News Journal
Attorney General probe requested
Letter to the editor by Senator Karen Peterson, Stanton
The recent article about duplicate voting in the Red Clay School District referendum neglected to mention that in addition to the duplicate votes cast, 32 ineligible voters actually cast votes in the election and an additional 97 ineligible voters attempted to vote but were turned away at the polls.
Vouchers would up the quality of schools
Letter to the editor by J. Michael Flanagan, Landenberg, PA
While not the single solution, “school choice vouchers” would strongly drive behaviors towards improving the overall quality of education. Competition for the voucher money would cause public schools to focus on programs, initiatives, and activities that would cause more students and families to truly want to attend their feeder pattern schools.
WHYY
Wilmington High School: the time has come
Commentary by John Watson, Wilmington radio talk show host
This issue has been around for a long time. It just makes sense that now is the time to get this done.
State of Delaware
Governor Markell announces grant program to promote financial literacy
Governor Jack Markell has announced the availability of a fifth round of grants to promote financial and economic literacy among Delawareans of all ages through the state’s Financial Literacy Education Fund (FLEF).
National News
Education Week
Making K-12 ‘innovation’ live up to its hype
Growing use of quotation marks around the word innovation, and the eye-rolling its use can sometimes provoke, reflect not only its overuse, but also a dawning reality: What we call “innovation” often lacks substance and sometimes works to our detriment, not our betterment.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Education Dept. considers creating not 1 but 2 college-ratings systems
The Education Department, under continued fire over its planned college-rating system, is considering creating two systems, an agency official said at a policy briefing here on Monday. The first ratings system would be geared toward consumers and be based on raw outcomes metrics. The second would be geared toward policy makers and researchers, and would rely on metrics adjusted for student and institutional characteristics.
The Times-Picayune
99 percent of Louisiana students take Common Core tests Monday
About 99 percent of Louisiana’s eligible public school students took Common Core-aligned tests Monday (March 16), Education Superintendent John White said. He called the participation rate an “unqualified success” and said, “Today’s assessment gives preliminary indications that concerns about widespread non-participation did not bear out.”
The Hechinger Report
How compatible are Common Core and technology?
The key to making the standards and tech work together, educators and experts say, is using technology to encourage critical thinking and classroom engagement — not replace them.
Common Core tests were supposed to be immune to test prep. So why are kids spending weeks prepping anyway?
All the preparation may not do much good. This year, Louisiana students are taking new math and English standardized tests linked to the Common Core, the five-year-old national learning standards adopted by more than 40 states — which test-makers and many education experts say will be less susceptible to the intensive test-prep techniques of the past. Nonetheless, it’s not stopping many Louisiana schools from trying — not so much to improve student performance, but to boost student confidence as children are tested for the first time on the Common Core.