December 18, 2015

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Let Cape administrators do their jobs
Editorial
The Cape Henlopen School District Board of Education has been going round and round on starting times for elementary and secondary schools. The issue is being driven by state school-­transportation issues. The state pays for the bulk of student transportation, including funding of buses, and the state is facing tough budget times.

Delaware Department of Education
Delaware MET charter revoked
Press release
In response to the Delaware Department of Education and State Board of Education’s action today revoking the charter for the Delaware MET charter school in Wilmington at the end of the second marking period, the state announced that its staff will meet with MET students and families in the coming weeks to help them determine their best educational options for the second semester of the school year.

Delaware Public Media
Wilmington redistricting plan sparks questions of cost
State Board of Education members say they’re hesitant to sign off on a plan to redistrict the City of Wilmington when it has no price tag. Board members grilled the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission over just how much it’s going to cost to put an end to the city’s hodgepodge education plan borne out of years of bussing students to suburban schools.

Middletown Transcript
New math learning center opens in Middletown
There is a new business in Middletown for parents who want to help their children do better in mathematics. Mathnasium, a Los Angeles-based math learning center, now has a location at 578 W. Main Street. There are about 400 Mathnasium centers across the U.S. The business uses a proprietary education method for helping children with math. The location in Middletown opened on Aug. 24.

News works
Delaware to close charter school one semester after it opened
In an unprecedented move, Delaware has decided to close one of its charter schools just months after the school opened. Delaware Met, a charter high school in Wilmington, becomes Delaware’s first school to have its charter revoked in the first semester of operation. State officials said fiscal woes, legal noncompliance, and serious school safety concerns made Delaware Met unfit to educate.

The News Journal
State votes to close charter school in Jan.
Turmoil at the Delaware MET charter school has forced state officials to close it in January, midway through its first year in operation. The State Board of Education, after some soul-searching, voted unanimously Thursday to revoke the Wilmington school’s charter, following the recommendations of a panel of Department of Education officials who found a laundry list of serious problems at MET.

State board of ed: Give us the redistricting bottom line number
The State Board of Education barraged leaders of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission with questions Thursday as they submitted their ambitious plan to overhaul Delaware’s education system. Many of the questions boiled down to one critical issue: How much is this going to cost?

Red Clay votes to close charter school
The Red Clay School Board has voted to close Delaware College Preparatory Academy, a Wilmington charter school with 186 students. Board members voted swiftly not to renew the school’s charter without discussion at a meeting Wednesday night. They followed the recommendations of a committee of district officials who said it is on precarious financial footing and students are struggling academically.

Pool our resources to improve our schools
Opinion by Chandlee Johnson Kuhn, Jackie Jenkins and Michelle Taylor, co-chairs of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission’s Committee on Meeting the Needs of Students in Poverty
We are working to help prepare our students to succeed in life by providing them with the knowledge and skills to live and work in the city that we all love. Instead of worrying about what happens if they don’t get the resources, education, and support that they deserve—a narrative that too many accept as a reason to do nothing at all — we choose to be active in supporting our students to become great citizens and thereby make our city and state stronger.

WDEL
Funding for Wilmington redistricting plan questions by State Board
The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission (WEIC) submitted its redistricting proposal to the State Board of Education. Following WEIC’s presentation, state board members had several questions for WEIC, particularly on how much the plan would cost and how it would be funded.

Delaware MET ordered closed
The state Board of Education voted to close Delaware MET Charter School next month – just four months after it opened. It took roughly an hour of deliberation, with board member Greg Coverdale casting the lone ‘no’ vote.

Red Clay to close Delaware College Prep Academy charter
The Red Clay School District is closing one of its charter schools. The district’s school board voted Wednesday night not to renew the Delaware College Preparatory Academy’s charter. The vote came after a committee of district officials recommended the Wilmington school be shuttered over low enrollment as well as financial and academic struggles. DCPA met just six of the oversight committee’s 16 criteria for renewal.

Rodel Foundation Blog
Fixing NCLB and creating opportunities for innovation
Last week, the education policy landscape shifted for states as President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law, replacing No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Here is a quick recap of our major takeaways from the latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

National

ABC
High schools listening to scientist, letting teens sleep
More school districts around the U.S. are heeding the advice of scientists who have long said that expecting teens to show up to class before 8 a.m. isn’t good for their health or their report cards. The Seattle school board voted last month to adopt an 8:45 a.m. start time beginning next year for all of its high schools and most of its middle schools, joining 70 districts across the nation who adopted a later start time in recent years.

Charleston Gazette-Mail
WV school board Oks changes to Common Core standards, reduces standardized testing
In voice votes with no nays heard, the West Virginia Board of Education on Thursday chose to replace the state’s Common Core-based math and English/language arts standards with revised education requirements, effective next school year. The board also approved making permanent, beginning this spring, the recent reduction in end-of-year standardized testing in two subjects that don’t have Common Core-based standards: science and social studies. All end-of-school-year social studies standardized testing will be eliminated and tested grades in science will drop from third-11th to just fourth, sixth and 10th.

TES Global
Survey highlights American teacher demand for bigger role in ed tech decision-making
A new survey of over 4,300 American teachers reveals a desire to disrupt the status quo by moving ed tech decision-making closer to the classroom. Conducted by leading digital education company TES Global, in partnership with the Jefferson Education Accelerator, which was founded by the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, the survey findings suggest teachers want to play a more active role in dictating what technology and materials are used in their classrooms.

The Washington Post
Q&A: Days from leaving office, Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks about successes, failures
Arne Duncan has been one of the longest-serving education secretaries and by most accounts, among the most influential. Duncan, who is preparing to step down at the end of the month and return to his family in Chicago, sat down for an exit interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday, Dec. 16. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

WMDT
Hogan appoints new higher education secretary
Gov. Larry Hogan has appointed a new secretary for the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Hogan announced Wednesday that James Fielder, who has served as his secretary of appointments, will take the place of Jennie Hunter-Cevera.