April 16, 2014

Local News

The News Journal
State to decide on charter school applications
The fate of nine charter schools will be decided at Thursday’s state Board of Education meeting. State education officials will decide whether to approve five new charters, whether to put three already-approved schools under review for financial issues and whether to allow the New Maurice J. Moyer Academy to shrink its enrollment targets. Five new charters are seeking permission to open, all of them in New Castle County and all but one in Fall 2015.

WDDE
Junior Achievement partners with STEM Council, DOW Chemical
Gov. Jack Markell (D-Delaware) continued his support of educational partnerships with business that expose students to jobs in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields Tuesday. Jason Galinsky is a production manager at Dow Chemical and also a JA board member says Dow’s presence in JA BizTown stretches JA’s historic financial literacy education role. He calls his company’s investment a long-term project that would familiarize students with STEM-based concepts and careers.

WHYY
Delaware program promotes STEM careers in the classroom
A video
On Tuesday, Junior Achievement of Delaware announced plans to expand its career-readiness efforts in order to link students with professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “Careers in STEM are among the fastest growing right here in Delaware and in the nation,” said Rob Epps, President of JA of Delaware.

Delaware Teacher of the Year calls winning ‘A humbling experience’
Lea Wainwright’s schedule has become jam-packed in the time since she was declared Delaware Teacher of the Year in 2013. Despite the many demands that accompany her new title, the Appoqunimink High School French teacher said that advocacy for her fellow educators is at the top of her to-do list.

National News

The Kansas City Star
Kansas math, reading tests results might not go public
Kansas education officials say they are considering not releasing the results of state math and reading tests. The annual assessment tests have been plagued this year with computer problems and cyberattacks, prompting some districts to delay or interrupt testing.

The Associated Press
Tennessee lawmakers discuss compromise plan
State lawmakers are considering compromise legislation that would delay the testing component for Tennessee’s Common Core education standards for one year.

Education Week
National groups outline steps to protect privacy of student data
Several groups are working to establish more clarity and guidance with new policies for K-12 schools that are struggling to deal with the atmosphere around issues of student-data privacy.

S.C. chief declares state will leave Smarter Balanced after all
If you thought the South Carolina Board of Education’s vote last week to stick with the Smarter Balanced assessments for the Common Core State Standards settled the issue, state Superintendent of Education. In an April 14 letter, Zais announced he has made the decision to withdraw the state from the Smarter Balanced testing consortium, and that the board’s April 9 vote to stick with the group is legally irrelevant. And he said he’s dropping Smarter Balanced after consulting with both the legislature and the office of Gov. Nikki Haley, a fellow elected Republican.

With time running out, Arne Duncan discusses his lengthy to-do list
In the waning years of the Obama administration, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sees several important and difficult priorities ahead of him, he told Education Week in a wide-ranging 30-minute interview. Chief among them: The transition to new standards and tests, the debut of new teacher evaluations tied to test scores, and the costly drive to expand preschool.

Tenn. teachers’ union credits motivational video, not policy efforts, for NAEP gains
Speculation has arisen as to whether the test-score gains were attributable to the policy changes. Some education-reform advocates—including the Tennessee Education Commissioner, Kevin Huffman—have made no bones about affirming the connection. Now the Tennesee Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, has added a new wrinkle to the debate. The union, which has doggedly opposed the state’s school-policy agenda, is pushing the claim that the NAEP improvements could be explained in part by something far more rudimentary—like a motivational video, for example.