November 12, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
University of Delaware to choose new president next week
The University of Delaware’s Board of Trustees will vote on the school’s new president next Wednesday. The trustees will hold a special meeting, open to the public, at 1 p.m. in the Trabant University Center, 17 W. Main St. in Newark. President Patrick Harker stepped down this summer to head the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Nancy Targett, formerly dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences, has been serving as interim president.

Carney plan would change college aid
Congressman John Carney wants to make the financial aid low-income students receive from the federal government more predictable by placing the money in savings accounts in advance. He hopes that will help families better understand how much assistance is available to them and encourage them to begin the process of applying earlier, which would help more students go to college.

Delaware education reform takes unnecessary hits
Editorial
The state wants to penalize a school for low Smarter Balanced participation by placing an even greater magnifying glass on the school’s standardized test performance. The theory holds that schools can inflate their overall test scores if poor-performing students skip the test entirely. The proposed penalties, many parents and teachers say, take matters too far. We agree.

Keep our kids connected to learning
Editorial
“As a parent and educator, there’s clearly more work to be done around the issues of multitasking. Nearly two-thirds of teens today tell us they don’t think watching TV or texting while doing homework makes any difference to their ability to study and learn, even though there’s more and more research to the contrary,” CSM founder and CEO James Steyer said.

Parents, don’t buy myth of short attention span
Opinion by Todd Kessler, co-creator of Blue’s Clues and author of The Good Dog
Abundant scientific studies demonstrate the importance of parents reading to their children. So why would the publishing industry place artificial limits on the word count in those books? Not to mention, of course, that $17 is an awful lot to spend on an under five-minute experience that could only be repeated a few times. As a society, we’ve recently come to the general understanding that for our kids to be physically healthy, they need a more complex diet. It’s the same with content. In order for our children to develop into mentally fit and intellectually healthy beings, they require more complex and diverse content — not empty calories, but real nutrition for the brain.

WHYY
Carney to introduce college savings account bill
As the cost of college rises and students scramble to foot the tab, U.S. Representative John Carney, D-Delaware, wants families to know there’s help available. That’s the message behind a bill Carney, Delaware’s lone representative in the House, plans to introduce Wednesday. Dubbed the Higher Educaiton Savings Accounts Act, Carney’s measure would set up accounts where students as early as ninth grade could go to see how much federal financial aid they might receive if they attend college.

WDEL
Superintendents discuss challenges and goals at WDEL education town hall
The superintendents of Christina, Colonial, Red Clay, and Brandywine school districts gathered Wednesday night for a WDEL town hall discussion on education in New Castle County. As the state prepares to redistrict schools in Wilmington, the education leaders expressed their thoughts on challenges such as poverty, school funding, and state testing.

Christina Board of Education approves out-of-state training program for teachers
Select Christina teachers will have the opportunity to train with teachers across the country next summer. The Christina Board of Education approved out-of-state summer training for select teachers in a 6-1 vote. The multi-week training program is known as the Delaware Teachers Leadership Initiative.

Wilmington council members hopeful city gets stronger voice in education matters
Some Wilmington council members on Wednesday said they are hopeful that that recommendations from a state panel will lead to more involvement from local officials in how students are educated in the city. Members of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission (WEIC) appeared before city council Wednesday, discussing recommendations like the creation of an office of education within the city’s government.

Wilmington’s Howard High School gets new technology lab from Capital One
The computer lab at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington got a significant upgrade through an investment by a local company. “We had the computers, but that was about it,” said senior Eric Nahe. But now, Howard High School has a 3D printer, a green screen, a flat screen television complete with Apple TV, and more as part of their brand new technology lab made possible through a grant from Capital One.

Delaware First Media
UD President Targett: diversity my “top priority”
University of Delaware acting president Nancy Targett calls increasing and supporting student diversity the “top priority” during her tenure. Targett made the comments during an early state budget hearing Tuesday. None of the new money requested in their $120.1 million operating fund proposal would go toward that mission. But Targett says her office is putting together recommendations to spur more recruitment and admission of minority students to the Newark campus.

Rep. Carney to introduce a bill to create higher ed savings accounts
Delaware’s lone representative John Carney will introduce a bill in Congress Wednesday to reform the federal government’s college Pell Grant program. Tuesday morning at Dover High School, Carney joined the heads of Del Tech, Wesley College and DSU to present the Higher Education Savings Account Act. This legislation would run a pilot program to create education savings accounts for high school students.

Delaware State launches internship program with GE in Nigeria
Delaware State University has forged a new partnership with GE in Nigeria. Officials signed the agreement Wednesday. It’ll let them send students to the West African nation for internships in engineering, manufacturing and business fields, and set up other exchanges.

Hockessin Community Times
New legislation could help students plan financially for college
U.S. Rep John Carney plans on introducing new legislation to help students plan financially for college. The proposed Higher Education Savings Accounts Act would form a pilot study creating individualized education savings accounts for eligible high school students within the Pell grant program.

Appoquinimink school board members divided over class size waivers
Two out of five members of the Appoquinimink School Board of Education voted against approving class size waivers at their meeting on Tuesday night. After a presentation by Appoquinimink School District Director of Human Resources Matt Fallis which showed that 46 out of 130 kindergarten through third grade classrooms in the district were over the state’s limit of 22 students per class, board members engaged in a discussion which was heated and tense at times. School districts in Delaware do not receive additional funds for students who enroll past the end of September. This forces school districts to either approve class size waivers if the student-to-teacher ratio exceeds the state’s limit of 22, or hire more staff to help teachers with the increased load in the classroom.

U.S. Department of Education
Fact Sheet: Empowering States to Transform the Education Landscape
Press release
Today, the Department released two reports documenting how states and school districts have responded to this new way of doing business at the Department of Education through two of the Administration’s signature initiatives. Using Race to the Top funds, Delaware teachers took a collaborative approach to professional development. Teachers in every school met weekly for 90 minutes in professional learning communities to analyze student work and share ways to modify instruction to bridge gaps identified in student learning.

UDaily
Next-generation educators: UD program encourages high school students to explore teaching careers
With a looming national teacher shortage and a steady decline in the number of college freshmen interested in studying education, the profession needs to move its focus to encouraging high school students to start thinking about a career in teaching. Dan Brown, co-director of the nonprofit organization Educators Rising, delivered that message to a group of high school teachers and about 75 of their students at the University of Delaware on Nov. 5. Brown was the keynote speaker at the daylong Success Through Education event, a program UD has been offering for four years to help Delaware high school students prepare for college and consider majoring in education.

CNN
Investing in better teachers makes sense
Opinion by Jack Markell, Governor of Delaware, and Terry Branstad, Governor of Iowa
As governors — one Republican, one Democrat — there are some issues we don’t see eye to eye on. But one thing we can wholeheartedly agree on is that when it comes to our students’ education, great teachers matter. Research shows that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor affecting a student’s academic achievement, and students who are struggling academically or who come from low-income backgrounds benefit the most from excellent teaching.

Newark Post
Newark Charter teacher uses oceans to hook students on science
In fact, the Newark Charter High School teacher tries to find a way to work marine science into as many lessons as possible. That’s part of the reason Lunsford received this year’s Mid-Atlantic Marine Education Association classroom teacher award, presented each year to a teacher in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina or Washington, D.C.

National News

Deseret News
State School Board moves toward new assessment for kindergartners
Utah kindergartners might see a new entrance assessment to help teachers understand their academic readiness before starting school.

Inside Higher Ed
New guide to remediation
Colleges and states have spent years working on ways to improve remedial education, especially as they find more students are graduating high school unprepared for the rigors of college. Sixty-eight percent of community college students and 40 percent of students at public four-year colleges take at least one remedial course, and even more students are referred to developmental courses but never enroll in them, according to the Community College Research Center.

Education Week
National Board appoints a new president, the first to ever be board-certified
A former teacher has been named president of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Peggy Brookins, a former math teacher in Florida, will officially take charge of the NBPTS after serving as interim president and CEO following the death of former president Ronald Thorpe, who passed away from lung cancer in June. This appointment marks the first time that an NBCT will officially be in charge of the National Board, according to today’s press release. Brookins obtained her certification in math at the adolescent and young adulthood level in 2004.

Sun Journal
Referendum would have the state pay more for education
A proposed 2016 referendum would ask Maine voters if they support mandating the state to pay 55 percent of the cost of public education. The movement is supported by Stand Up for Students, a coalition that includes the Maine Education Association, the Maine People’s Alliance and the Maine AFL-CIO.