November 9, 2015

Delaware News

U.S. Department of Education
Delaware’s BRINC districts collaborate to personalize learning for all students
Teachers blend online and in-person instruction to engage students and increase college and career readiness.

The News Journal
Tougher penalty for low test participation proposed
In an effort to ensure as many students as possible are taking the state standardized test, the state Department of Education is recommending schools lose points on a new “scorecard” if fewer students than expected take the exam. That’s a harsher penalty for schools with low participation rates than a panel of administrators and teacher and parent advocates recommended.

St. Georges Tech students ask: ‘How safe is our produce?’
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the use of pesticides and herbicides is on the rise – a trend some link to pests resistant to the genetically modified crops that were supposed to reduce the need for such chemicals. A team of junior researchers at St. Georges Technical High School is now working to determine how often those toxins show up in Delaware and which types of produce are the biggest culprits.

Cape Gazette
College application help and scholarship information available online
As Delaware continues celebrating this year’s College Application Month, the Department of Education urges the state’s college-bound students to begin searching local and national scholarships in the new online Scholarship Compendium.

Coastal Point
Students, staff feel the strain of increased population
An educator’s job is to support his or her students. But this month, Sussex Central High School’s student government lobbied for their staff, which is feeling the weight of a growing student population. Student council president, senior Charlie Megginson described a recent meeting between State Rep. Ruth Briggs King and a cross-section of Sussex Central High School students.

National News

NPR
Behind the shortage of special ed teachers: Long hours, crushing paperwork
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, requires that every student have what’s known as an IEP — Individualized Education Program. And almost always, those IEP’s spell out that students — either some of the time or all of the time — must be taught by a teacher fully certified in special education. And yet, around the country, that’s exactly the category of teacher that’s most in demand, as many states and districts are reporting severe shortages.

Los Angeles Times
Arts education in all schools needs to be a priority and better funded, advocates say
Getting school districts on track to offer state-mandated arts programs could require incentives, legislation and enforcement, arts advocates said at a hearing Friday in Beverly Hills. Arts programs across California have waned in the wake of budget cuts and a sharpened focus on academic subjects measured on standardized tests. Thousands of students in the state don’t have access to arts classes, a violation of state law.

Education Week
A different kind of lesson from Finland
Commentary by y Chester E. Finn Jr. & Brandon L. Wright
The United States and Finland would both be wise to adopt systematic policies designed to improve the education of high-ability learners beginning well before high school

Study: RTI falls short of promise
Response to intervention has become ubiquitous as a framework to teach students to read in elementary schools, but the most comprehensive federal evaluation of the approach to date finds that it may hold back some of the children it was originally designed to support.