October 14, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
Colonial creates its own evaluations
The Colonial School District has created its own alternative to the state’s much-maligned teacher evaluation system, and the district teachers union has voted to support it.

Cape Gazette
Cape gets CHAT-y
Now, Cape Henlopen is moving forward with its own system to implement Common Core standards based on what district students need. Instead of using Common Ground for collaboration, Cape will use Cape Henlopen Action Teams to examine strengths and weaknesses in district classrooms.

WDEL
New Christina acting superintendent emphasizes community
For Robert Andrzejewski, Tuesday night’s school board meeting was more than an introduction. The new acting superintendent explained his efforts to meet with members of the Christina School District. He said he wants to get an idea for what the community wants to do in planning the next referendum–using “meet and greets” to do so.

Appoquinimink gearing up for change
Changes are afoot in the Appoquinimink School District. One of the most important transitions is the direction school Units are pointing towards. Kittie Rehrig, assistant to the Appoquinimink superintendent, explained how Appo increased its new student population by more than five percent.

Dover Post
Streaming social studies: CR tests distance learning
Many thinly-stretched teachers can feel like they have to be two places at once. Caesar Rodney High’s Emily Vansickle can be. Since the beginning of the school year, the social studies teacher has been piloting a distance learning program for the district. The initiative allows her to teach a high school class while simultaneously teaching students at Fred Fifer Middle School.

National News

Education Week
‘Learning science’ tops education deans’ to-do list
A group of education school deans hoping to spur improvements in teacher preparation today announced their first major initiative: To improve aspiring teachers’ knowledge of the nitty-gritty of how and why students learn. A paper released by the Deans For Impact summarizes the research on learning science, and identifies six key questions the group says teachers should grapple with.

Is collaborative PD time being wasted in schools?
Team meetings—as conducted by professional learning communities or data groups, for example—have become an increasingly important component of teacher professional development in many schools. Yet some evidence suggests that such meetings are often not well-executed and that many teachers are not highly satisfied with the format.

The Atlantic
The tenuous fate of Pennsylvania’s public schools
The legislature’s budget disagreements could mean that many of the Keystone State’s schools are about to shut down.

U.S. News & World Report
Parents support testing, but think there’s too much
Parents of public school students support the use of standardized tests, but think they’re overused and not necessarily helping their children improve.

Denver Post
Denver district focuses on quality as schools resegregated
Twenty years after a judge let Denver Public Schools end forced busing, schools are again segregated and efforts to encourage natural integration have not generated many results.