December 9, 2015

Delaware

Rodel Foundation Blog
UD club provides support for Delaware kids
Blog post by Haley Qaissaunee
The University of Delaware (UD) has hundreds of clubs, or Resident Student Organizations (RSOs) on campus. One RSO in particular echoes Delaware efforts, as well as national efforts, to serve and help young children. The Student Association for the Education of Young Children (SAEYC)—mirrored after DAEYC and NAEYC—is a club that links students with service opportunities for children.

Delaware Public Media
UD officially dedicates laboratory to former President Harker
The University of Delaware honored former President Patrick Harker Tuesday – formally dedicating the Patrick T. Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory. The Lab opened in 2013, and features classrooms that connect to state-of-the-art laboratories. The building was designed to facilitate problem-based learning – in which students solve open-ended problems to master a concept.

Delaware 105.9
Diversity, innovative learning opportunities to remain focuses as UD plans leadership transition
The interim head of the University of Delaware says the school will continue focusing on a few issues as it transitions to new leadership over the next several months. Acting UD President Nancy Targett says the one of those areas will be diversity. She says the university just came out with a diversity action plan that looked at programs and opportunities that support minority students.

Cape Gazette
MERR to build new education, science center
The Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute is set to launch a campaign to bring an ocean education and science center to the First State. While specifics about the project, including location, size and cost, have not been determined, MERR plans to launch a capital campaign in 2016.

Technical.ly Delaware
Rep. Carney calls on high schoolers to bring A-game in coding contest
High school coders, start your engines: Rep. John Carney (D-Del.) just announced Delaware’s participation in a national app development competition, the Congressional App Challenge. A panel of local judges — experts in academic, software and entrepreneurial fields — will choose a winner for the state. The U.S. House of Representatives will feature the winning app on its website, and it will also be displayed in a U.S. Capitol exhibit. In Delaware, Carney’s office will host an event to showcase the submitted and winning apps.

The News Journal
Jump-start your kid’s reading, even when school’s out
Getting children ready to read doesn’t have to be a chore. It is something that can be built into every day, according to Amy Mascott and Allison McDonald, authors of the Scholastic book, “Raising a Rock-Star Reader.” Their book includes on-the-road suggestions as well as hands-on activities to help busy caregivers with reading readiness in their children.

Delaware Department of Education
Delaware Students get excited about computer coding Hour of Code events
Press release
This week nearly 200,000 Hour of Code events will be held in more than 180 countries. More than 100 of these events take place in schools and organizations throughout Delaware to engage students – and even families – in the fun and often-underappreciated side of computer coding, and to demonstrate the importance of coding in our everyday lives.

2016 – 17 Delaware scholarship application now available
Press release
Delaware residents interested in applying for scholarships, grants and professional incentive loans to pursue a postsecondary education during next academic year school year should visit the Delaware Goes to College website at delawaregoestocollege.org for the 2016-17 application. This past year Delaware awarded $3.1 million in merit scholarships and incentive loans and more than $6 million in SEED and Inspire scholarships to Delaware students.

Sussex County Post
Indian River School District hosting teacher recruitment fair
Indian River School District, in partnership with Academic Partnerships L.L.C., will host a teacher recruitment fair Feb. 27, 2016 at the Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel in Ocean City. The second annual fair will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., attracting school district recruiters from all of Delaware and the eastern shores of Maryland and Virginia.

WDEL
Christina School Board discusses WEIC plan
As the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission continues work on a plan to present to the State Board of Education, the Christina School Board remains heavily involved. For school board members, however, Monday’s WEIC meeting was not positive; Red Clay parents expressed opposition to the redistricting plan.

National

EDSurge
Personalized learning is not a product
For all the hype surrounding so-called “personalized learning,” plenty of skeptics worry that it could do more harm than good—especially within the context of larger trends in academia. They worry that, among other things, personalized learning products will be used not to improve student learning, but as cheaper and “good enough” replacements for faculty labor. But In order to get good results from personalized learning products, there needs to be experienced faculty who believe in what they are doing and have had some professional development in how to teach. Even great software is not magic. If you want magic in the classroom, you need a great teacher.

KUOW.org
Washington charter schools find another source of public money
Washington state’s charter schools are about to lose state funding, so they’re exploring an option that might allow them to stay open. Charter schools that could find host public school districts could contract as Alternative Learning Experience providers for the districts – even if that host district is across the state. School districts in Washington already offer these alternative programs, typically online learning.

NPR
If you build affordable housing for teachers, will they come?
If you pull into Hertford County High School in northeastern North Carolina, pass the bus circle and the soccer fields, and continue to a patch of woods, you find three, cheerful, two-story apartment buildings. Knock on any door here and you’ll find the home of a teacher or employee of the local school district. North Carolina has some of the lowest teacher salaries in the country. Combine that with a housing shortage in this rural county, and that creates a big problem.

Will the new federal education law more the needle on equity?
Interview with Pedro Noguera, professor of education at UCLA and director of the Center for the Study of School Transformation
The U.S. Senate is expected to approve an overhaul to America’s most important federal education law tomorrow. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is an update to the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind law, which is often criticized for requiring too much testing.  The new legislation has bipartisan support in the House and is expected to be on the president’s desk by the end of the week. But will these changes help the populations that need it most – students of color, students with disabilities and low-income students?

The Atlantic
Why are so many preschoolers getting suspended?
Tunette Powell travels across the country counseling families and mentoring youth. An award-winning motivational speaker and author, her professional work in the education field ranges from training nonprofit leaders to consulting for colleges and universities. But none of Powell’s career-related skills could prepare her for the frustration and helplessness of seeing her two sons suspended from preschool, which she pegged to overly harsh and racially biased discipline.

WBOC
Fewer than half of students pass tough new tests
Fewer than half of Maryland elementary and middle school students can pass tough new standardized tests and school officials are blaming a teaching and testing standards overhaul in recent years. The results announced Tuesday show that teachers and students haven’t adjusted to the higher expectations of the new Partnership for Assessments of Career and College Readiness.