January 7, 2016
Delaware
Delaware Department of Education
SAT to replace Smarter in 11th grade
Press release
The SAT will replace the Smarter Assessment as the state test for high school juniors beginning this spring. The change comes at the request of legislators and as the state continues to look for ways to reduce testing, particularly for 11th graders who already were taking both exams as part of Delaware’s state-funded School Day SAT program. The College Board, the nonprofit that administers the college entrance exam, is launching a redesigned SAT this spring that is aligned to the English language arts and mathematics standards Delaware adopted in 2010 (standards are the academic expectations for what Delaware students should know and be able to do at the completion of each grade level).
Delaware Public Media
Longhurst offers bill to expand afterschool options in First State
A bill that would create more afterschool programs across Delaware will be in front of lawmakers when they reconvene next week. House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst (D-Bear) unveiled legislation Wednesday at Gunning Bedford Middle School in New Castle that seeks to create in-school, afterschool opportunities in high-need schools statewide. Longhurst is also asking for $10 million to fund them.
Smarter Balanced opt-out supporters aim to push bill past governor’s veto
Despite news that the state will drop the controversial Smarter Balanced Assessment from 11th grade requirements, the legislative session will begin next week with another fight over standardized testing. Lawmakers and parents are gearing up to overturn the governor’s veto of a bill allowing students to opt out of Smarter Balanced. State PTA president Terri Hodges says their message about Smarter Balanced hasn’t changed since the Legislature first approved the opt-out bill last year.
Delaware 105.9
Audio: AAA & Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety &Education welcome 3 Milford schools to safety patrol program
Three Milford schools join the AAA and the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Safety and Education’s Safety Patrol Program. 60 students from Banneker, Lulu M. Ross and Mispillion Elementary Schools were sworn in on Wednesday afternoon; this was the first time three elementary school Safety Patrols were sworn in at the same time in Delaware.
Dover Post
Capital drawing up five year plan
Capital School District has taken the first steps to craft a five year strategic plan that’ll tackle issues ranging from finances to behavioral problems. The district began in mid-December by interviewing consulting firms. According to Business Manager Sean Sokolowski, they’ve narrowed down the pool and are in contract negotiations. A final decision will be made at the Jan. 20 school board meeting. Sokolowski said the district has budgeted $45,000 to pay for expenses related to the plan, including consulting.
The News Journal
Education will be prominent when Legislature returns
The General Assembly has a lengthy to-do list of education issues in the session that starts next week, including several proposals to increase services for at-risk kids and a few items that could prove controversial. The first big school issue will likely be a battle over a bill to protect parents who opt their kids out of the state standardized test. But there are plenty of other issues to be heard through the rest of the legislative season, which ends June 30.
Juniors won’t have to take Smarter Balanced exam
Delaware high school juniors will not have to take the controversial Smarter Balanced Assessment this year, the state Department of Education announced Wednesday. Instead, the state will use the SAT college entrance exam, which is already offered in-class to every Delaware public school student. Students in grades three to eight will continue to take the test.
Boost to Delaware after-school programs proposed
A top state lawmaker wants to make funding available to every high-needs school in Delaware to create after-school programs, hoping to give kids from low-income families a safe, constructive place for academic help and healthy meals. House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, announced Wednesday that she will propose a bill next week to create the Statewide Afterschool Initiative Learning program, or SAIL, which would offer grants to schools under the federal Title I program for low-income youth.
NewsWorks
SAT to replace Smarter Balanced as Delaware’s 11th grade standardized test
Delaware high schools students won’t be the only ones sweating out the SAT this year. Now schools and districts will be on the hook, too. State officials announced Wednesday that Delaware will use the SAT as its 11th-grade accountability test starting this spring. The SAT will replace Smarter Balanced, a Common-Core-aligned test that was introduced last year and faced heavy criticism.
Delaware legislators push for afterschool enrichment program
Delaware legislators are asking the state for $10 million to establish a network of afterschool programs at high-need schools. A bill unveiled Wednesday by State House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, would create the Statewide Afterschool Initiative Learning (SAIL) program. Through SAIL, the state would provide grants to support programs at schools with high percentages of low-income students.
Sussex County Post
Dr. Statler seeking to retain seat on Indian River school board
Current school board member Dr. Heather M. Statler of Millsboro filed Wednesday with the Department of Elections for candidacy in the upcoming Indian River School District school board elections. Dr. Statler, selected last August to fill a board vacancy, is seeking the open seat for District 3, which encompasses Millsboro, Long Neck and a portion of Dagsboro.
National
Bowling Green Daily News
Businessman screens pushes for education reform through film screening, grants
Bowling Green businessman Todd Thornton wants to help fix America’s education system. Thornton paid for a screening of a Sundance-nominated film about education reform called “Most Likely to Succeed” for teachers and school district personnel at the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative on Wednesday. After the documentary, Thornton awarded $400 to five teachers and handed out $100 bills to district personnel who traveled a long way to attend the screening.
Education Week
ESSA loosens reins on teacher evaluations, qualifications
With the signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act into law, an era of significant federal involvement in teacher licensing and evaluation has come to an end. Most notably, the new law does not require states to set up teacher-evaluation systems based in significant part on students’ test scores—a key requirement of the U.S. Department of Education’s state-waiver system in connection with ESSA’s predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act.
Tampa Bay Times
Florida Education Board settles on scores, school grades after year of testing trouble
The Florida State Board of Education, which for years has pushed to toughen standards for Florida students, voted Wednesday to compromise on test scores and school grades while the state continues to wrestle with its newly revised accountability system. The board adopted Education Commissioner Pam Stewart’s recommendations for scores that would see more than half of students passing the Florida Standards Assessments.
The Boston Globe
In Mass. schools, a focus on well-being
The only sound that could be heard in Maria Simon’s first-grade classroom one December morning was the soothing hum from a vibrating Tibetan singing bowl. Her students had gathered on a brightly colored rug at the back of the classroom, sitting with their eyes shut, their legs crossed, and their arms extended outward palms up. This moment of “mindfulness” in Simon’s classroom is part of a broader effort at Birch Meadow Elementary School and Reading’s eight other schools to help put students at ease and get them more in tune with their emotions, and one another, so they can concentrate on learning.
The Washington Post
Washington senators introduce charter school proposal
The charter school system in Washington, struck down by a state Supreme Court ruling last September, has new hope in a bipartisan proposal introduced by lawmakers Monday that seeks to make the schools constitutional. Democratic Sen. Andy Billig and Republican Sen. Michael Baumgartner, both from Spokane, filed Senate Bill 6163 to make charter schools accountable to locally elected school boards.