February 2, 2016

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Cape trims increase for new elementary schools
Cape Henlopen school board voted Jan. 28 to give residents a small break when it comes to the proposed tax rate increase to build new elementary schools. The district will request a 33 cent increase, down from an earlier estimate of 37 cents. However, the decrease will have little effect on tax bills. The proposed property tax increase remains about $74 a year for a $200,000 home assessed at $22,509. Cape Henlopen school board is asking voters to approve a tax increase to replace or renovate its four elementary schools, at a total cost of $121 million, with district taxpayers picking up 40 percent of the tab, or $48 million.

Delaware State News
Expenditure group discusses health care, education spending
A new report from a bipartisan group that conducted a review of state spending focuses on expenses resulting from education, corrections and health care. The report, produced by the Delaware Expenditure Review Committee, largely avoids broad, sweeping changes but offers suggestions and provides an overview of key cost drivers and potential savings in the state’s budget, which is set to surpass $4 billion this upcoming year. In the state’s current budget, one-third of authorized funding goes to the Education Department, which has seen rising enrollment numbers.

NewsWorks
Trying to overcome “undermatching” in Delaware
On Saturday morning in a lecture hall on the campus of the University of Delaware, 30 teenagers vowed to spend the rest of their high school careers in relentless pursuit of excellence. Standing together and chanting in unison, they promised to sacrifice weekends, sleep, and a good chunk of their glory years in hopes of gaining admission to one of America’s top colleges. So concluded the induction ceremony for TeenSHARP, an immersive tutoring and mentorship program that feels like an after-school club set into hyper-drive.

Smyrna – Clayton Sun Times
Cameron Hood winds JBM Intermediate School Geography Bee
Cameron Hood won first place in the John Bassett Moore Intermediate School Geography Bee on Jan. 14 in Smyrna. Patrick Crutchfield placed second, and Donovan Clark finished third. The rest of the top 10 finalists in the competition were Alexis Buss, Aidan Nix, Sarah-Ashley Dinsmore, Madison Arsenault, Lawrence Tyrell, Ben Washburn and Connor Hetteroth.

The Journal
President calls on country to deliver CS education to all students
President Obama said he wants to see a stronger commitment to computer science in American schools, and he’s laid out a new initiative to make that a reality. The “Computer Science for All” program will seek Congressional funding to add CS at all levels of K-12, the use of resources at federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) to expand CS training for teachers and public and private support for promoting CS education. Delaware will be launching an online CS course for its students.

The Milford Beacon
Lake Forest creates curriculum app
Slow and steady is the mantra Lake Forest School District officials are taking with a districtwide smartphone app. In August, district officials announced plans to provide students, teachers and parents with instant access to information about the district. But they decided to test the waters first by creating a smaller, curriculum-based app instead. Doug Brown, Lake Forest’s chief academic adviser, helped with development. He said it could become important for helping parents track their kids’ academics.

Tow Square Delaware
Decoding Gov. Markell’s final State of the State address
In his final State of the State address (titled “Expecting More”) as leader of the First State, Governor Jack Markell devoted significant airtime to public education. Touching on everything from career training, to early learning, to teacher prep, Gov. Markell made it clear that the path to a better Delaware cuts directly through its classrooms. The Rodel policy team tuned in throughout the address and compiled some expanded thoughts on a few of the governor’s most noteworthy moments.

UDaily
Breaking down classroom walls
University of Delaware alumna Monica Burns began her teaching career as an elementary school teacher in one of New York City’s first public schools to pilot one-to-one iPad use in the classroom. During her time in the classroom, Apple Education asked Burns to speak about the ways she used the iPad at an event in the city. Burns, a 2007 graduate of the School of Education’s elementary teacher education (ETE) program, began to offer those resources on ClassTechTips, a blog she initially created to share free iPad apps and lesson ideas with teachers.

National

EdSurge
How blended learning is sprinting across Vietnam
The sun shone as we cruised over the bridge—new since my previous trip to Hanoi just two years ago—en route to the airport. Motorbikes, a staple in Vietnam’s city life, remained separate from the cars in a dedicated right lane. The scenery and contrast from my last time in Vietnam offered me a chance to reflect on the country’s bright future. Development continues apace; in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, I marveled at how much the cityscapes have changed in less than two years. And the education scene appeared brighter as well.

Education Week
Navigating towards personalized professional development
A lodestone is a magnetite rock on a string, a rough compass that helped pioneers navigate their bearings. The lodestone for 21st century learners is student-centered education. When kids are empowered through such an effective model, they become intrinsically motivated. However, each time I go to a sit-and-get professional-development session for teachers I ask myself: If we know students don’t learn through sit-and-get, why do we keep expecting adult learners to do so?

NewsWorks
Philly councilwoman wants food program for school students on snow days
City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell says children depend on the public schools for vital nourishment and being away from class four days in a row caused major problems. “So kids that get breakfast, kids that get lunch, kids that get snacks at school if schools are closed they won’t get food,” Blackwell said. “So we want to create some program, in other cities they open schools even if they are formally closed.” Blackwell said that where there’s a will, there’s a way — even if the streets are clogged with snow and the schools are closed because administrators don’t think everyone can get to class safely.

The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore schools lose hundreds of students, millions in funding
After enrollment in Baltimore public schools unexpectedly dropped following years of growth, officials are bracing for nearly $30 million in funding cuts and investigating whether hundreds of students were mistakenly kept on the rolls. City schools chief executive Gregory Thornton said he launched the internal investigation into student rolls after he noticed discrepancies between attendance data and what he saw when he visited schools. He said he expected to find overcrowded classrooms — a common complaint from teachers — but often did not.

The Washington Post
Department of Education pulls federal aid to trade schools
The Department of Education cut off federal loans and grants Monday to dozens of beauty schools and three technical trade schools for falsifying a wide range of records. “Our students depend on higher education institutions to prepare them for careers through a quality education. Unfortunately, some schools violate their trust through deceptive marketing practices and defraud taxpayers by giving out student aid inappropriately,” said Under Secretary Ted Mitchell in a statement. “These unscrupulous institutions use questionable business practices or outright lie to both students and the federal government.”