March 2, 2016

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Special education law office opens in Georgetown
McAndrews Law Offices, the nation’s largest special education legal practice, has opened a new office in Georgetown. The firm provides free legal counsel for students who say they have not received a fair and appropriate public education. Attorneys at the practice recently hosted a roundtable discussion with nearly a dozen education advocates in southern Delaware. Associate Caitlin McAndrews, Esq., a former teacher herself, opened the panel and offered limited legal advice.

Delaware State News
Read Across America winners
The Delaware State Education Association announced the winners of the 2016 Read across America contest on Wednesday. Grades K-3 created posters.  Grades 4-8 created posters and videos to depict the “Making a difference in the lives of others” theme from the Dr. Seuss book “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”  In addition to the winners in the video category, the overall Grand Prize Winner also was a video.

New America EdCentral
Taking the teacher evaluation debate “beyond ratings”
How do most states currently approach this latter issue, and where are they headed? On March 7, New America will host an event in conjunction with the release of a new report that digs deeper into this question. The panel discussion will center on states’ efforts to help connect evaluation and professional development to date, as well as predictions for changes that may come in the wake of ESSA. Along with representatives from two state education agencies—Tennessee and Delaware—the panel will include Dawn Krusemark of the American Federation of Teachers and Daniel Weisberg of TNTP.

Newsworks
Delaware Charters: More trouble coming?
In the past year alone, Delaware’s State Auditor has accused five charter schools of mismanaging taxpayer money…and there may be more to come. The auditor’s office is investigating “quite a number” of charter schools, Chief Administrative Auditor Kathleen Davies told NewsWorks/WHYY in early February. Among them is the recently closed Delaware Met High School in Wilmington. Davies declined to name any others, but said some schools under investigation have been named in past auditor reports.

WDEL
EdWatch: What you need to know about the new SAT
Getting rid of words you never use–like “aberration, munificent, and pugnacious”–and replacing them with words spoken daily is one of the biggest changes in the new SAT.  “It’s not okay to tell someone to study something because it’s on a test,” said David Coleman, president of The College Board. Coleman made a rare media appearance at the Education Writers Association Common Core workshop in Los Angeles as public opinion of standardized tests continues to deteriorate in Delaware and across the nation.

National

Chalkbeat Tennessee
House education panel takes first step to amend state constitution over school funding
It’s a long process to amend the state constitution, but lawmakers in Nashville took the first step Tuesday by approving a resolution that would give the legislature more control — and the courts less say — over the state’s level of education funding. A House education subcommittee voted 5-2 in favor of a resolution that the sponsor says is designed to protect educational policy from “activist judges” ruling against state governments on issues ranging from charter schools to the adequacy of school funding.

Herald Net
Inslee signs K-12 finance bill to answer state Supreme Court
Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday signed a bill that sets out a plan for finishing the Legislature’s work of reforming the way the state of Washington pays for K-12 education. The measure is the first bill the governor has signed this legislative session. It is designed to answer the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling — and its orders in the case since then — in the so-called McCleary decision that Washington’s school funding was not adequate or uniform.

Syracuse.com
Say Yes to Education gets $20M from New York State to offer free college tuition
In her State of the County address tonight, Joanie Mahoney announced $20 million in funding to “save” Say Yes to Education in Syracuse. The money was awarded to the Syracuse College Promise endowment program as part of the $500 million Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The endowment provides free college tuition to students graduating from the Syracuse City School District. “We made fulfilling the college promise and saving Say Yes to Education a priority in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative,” Mahoney said.

The Denver Post
Years into changes, Colorado schools still struggle balancing discipline
Peace circles, mediation and refocusing. They’re tools that teachers are now using in most districts as alternatives to sending students to the principal’s office. It’s a shift away from zero-tolerance policies that became the norm after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, which left 13 dead. Those policies had some parents upset when schools suspended students who missed too many days from school or chewed gum in class, or they called the police on children with toy guns.

The Hechinger Report
Despite its high-tech profile, Summit charter network makes teachers, not computers, the heart of personalized learning
Diane Tavenner scanned the list of names a staffer at Summit Prep high school had just handed her. She began to cry. They weren’t happy tears. Where many would see signs of success, Tavenner saw failure. “I taught those kids,” Tavenner said of that moment in 2011. “I was their principal, I was their mentor. I knew everybody personally — and their families.” But the list of names Tavenner scanned about five years ago told a fuller story. Almost half of Summit students who went on to college failed to make it all the way through.