April 17, 2017
Delaware News
Rodel Blog
Delaware in the national Pathways spotlight: 5 takeaways
Last month, from up on stage at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, Beatriz Ramirez told her story. Today a senior at William Penn High School, Beatriz originally came to the U.S. not speaking English as a first language. She felt isolated at school, and often didn’t connect to her lessons or her fellow students. Until, that is, she discovered the school’s culinary arts program. In the kitchen, Beatriz found her calling.
The News Journal
IR board proposes new budget reductions
The Indian River School District took steps to decrease its spending at the April 10 special board of education meeting. The board discussed three budget reduction plans in executive session that would impact spending on the entire district. “The board is going to consider its options,” said Dave Maull, spokesperson for the Indian River School District. “There is still work to be done. And these are issues all districts across the state are dealing with.
Wilmington children get free eye exams, glasses
Amodi Ransom has always been tall. The seventh-grade Kuumba Academy student is usually asked to sit toward the back of the class, she said, so other students can see the white board. The only problem with that? “It’s been blurry,” Ransom said. Since the second grade, she hasn’t been able to see the whiteboard herself. “I couldn’t see, and I didn’t know I needed glasses.” That changed this year, Ransom said, thanks to a public-private partnership called Vision to Learn, which, using a mobile van, performs free eye exams and gives free glasses to kids in low-income neighborhoods.
Sussex County Post
Selbyville Middle School robotics team rockets to world event
NASA’s Apollo 11 mission landed two men on the moon in July of 1969. A robotics team from Selbyville Middle School is hoping their Apollo 11 lands them more honors in the VEX Worlds competition in Louisville, KY over spring break. Apollo 11 is the name of the steel robot built by sixth graders Kaitlyn Johnson and Evan Carpenter and seventh grader Kendall Coleman.
Cape Gazette
Nikki Miller named new principal of Cape High
Nikki Miller has been hired as principal of Cape High. The former Cape High assistant principal will take over for Brian Donahue who is retiring at the end of the 2016-17 school year. Cape Henlopen school board voted unanimously to hire Miller following an executive session April 12. Board member Jen Burton said Miller brings a lot to the table as new principal.
National News
New York Post
GOP mayoral hopeful plans education overhaul if elected
GOP mayoral candidate Paul Massey is unveiling an education plan that would champion school choice and bring back some Bloomberg-era policies—including reinstating A-to-F report cards to grade public schools. Mayor de Blasio’s administration scrapped the letter-grade portion of school report cards. The Massey plan calls for lifting the cap on charter schools and providing charters equal funding with traditional public schools.
Time
My Daughter Has Autism But Our Special-Ed System Isn’t What She Needs
Opinion by Katherine Osnos Sanford, a public school teacher in Northern California
Mae has a red backpack that I ordered shortly before she started school. Her two brothers have similar backpacks, also in bright colors, each embroidered with their initials. I love the sight of my children’s backpacks hanging together on the hooks by our back door. It makes me feel that things are in order. What you can’t see when you look at their backpacks is how differently they experience school.
Houston Public Media
State Board of Education to Consider Revised Science Standards
Texas teachers and students could soon have new, streamlined curriculum standards for science class. The State Board of Education is expected to hold a public hearing and vote on the revised standards this week. In North Houston at Herrera Elementary, fifth grade science teacher Jessi Bautista was curious about the changes. When she looked at them, she became concerned that with the revised science standards, her students will miss out on some key concepts that will help them later in high school and life.
Real Clear Education
What It Takes to Truly Personalize Learning
Personalized learning has become a certifiable education buzzword as a growing number of products market themselves as customized to meet students’ needs. But for educators leading the real work day in and day out, the challenge of how to create schools that support students’ individual knowledge and skills remains an open question that deserves answers.
The Daily Progress
Report: Taxpayers donate more to homelessness than education
Utah taxpayers donated twice as much to fight homelessness than to support education and seem to have a soft spot for body armor for police dogs, according to the most recent report examining donations on tax returns in 2015. With Tax Day approaching, Utah residents have their annual opportunity to make donations to charitable organizations when they send in their tax returns. But if the last 25 years are any indication, the state may see a decrease in these donations.