April 20, 2016

Delaware

Delaware First Media
Brandywine School District releases more details about proposed $8 million in cuts
Brandywine School District Superintendent Mark Holodick presented his administration’s recommendations for $8 million in cuts should the district’s second try at its referendum this year fail next month. Holodick stresses that $8 million is a significant figure, the most amount of cuts he says the district has ever faced. When he had to implement $5 million in state funding cuts during the recession in 2009, he says his philosophy was to avoid cutting entire programs – since it’s difficult to bring them back.

Delaware State News
‘Competition conference’ points students to career success
Looking a questioner straight in the eyes, Sean Finney explained in detail how he’s benefited from Jobs for Delaware Graduates training in the past four years. “When I began in the program I was withdrawn and shy, and couldn’t really see myself doing anything beyond Delaware,” the Positive Outcomes Charter School senior said. “This is what helped me realize that I shouldn’t limit myself to considering just the easiest path into the future, and that I had potential to go further than that.”

Newsworks
Smyrna High School news dept. keeps student body informed
Lights, camera, action! And with that the Smyrna High School News team is live on the air. From producer to director to teleprompter operator, a student runs every job in this news organization. Jordan Keen, a junior, plays an integral part, “I’m the producer. I’m in charge of making sure that the news team goes well.” Keen hopes the experience he gets here will help him in his future endeavors.

The Dover Post
Lake Forest in final round of new strategic plan
Improving academics, safety and communication skills are among the key components of Lake Forest School District’s three-year strategic plan. The plan, presented to the board of education April 14, is part of the district’s attempt to address the concerns of parents and educators, said Superintendent Brenda Wynder. “What we know is that every two to three years there is a need for a revisit on what you have planned,” she said. The district had been developing the plan since December with the help of educators, business leaders and families.

The News Journal
Brandywine tries 2nd referendum of spring
Brandywine School District officials hope a little education can help get an upcoming referendum passed. The district is hosting four public meetings in advance of its second referendum of the year, which will be held next month. The first one failed last month, with many voters saying they felt the district hadn’t made a sufficient effort to let residents without children know about the referendum. The vote is scheduled for May 17. If it doesn’t pass, the district will face $8 million in cuts, according to Superintendent Mark Holodick.

WDEL
Brandywine to get new report card grading system
Report cards throughout Brandywine will look a little different when the next school year begins. Dr. Michelle Kutch, part of the Grade Reporting Committee in the district, presented the new report card grading system during Tuesday night’s monthly School Board meeting. She spoke about updates to the current report cards and progress reports at the elementary and secondary level. The changes didn’t come overnight, though, and Dr. Kutch told WDEL what spurred the new direction.

National

Education Dive
How teachers are using technology to change the classroom
Just as constant internet connectivity has become part of our everyday lives, education has taken steps to connect students, teachers, parents, and administrators with the world through technology. It’s called blended learning, and in K-12, it involves both a connected and face-to-face experience. Many K-12 schools have successfully created blended learning environments by utilizing the Canvas learning management system. Canvas allows teachers to use digital multimedia that can be found on the open web, accessed through a publisher or created by teachers and students using the software’s built-in tools.

Education Week
Some charters help alumni stick with college
Many of the nation’s charter schools set up shop in low-income urban areas hoping to propel students who may struggle to finish high school—let alone go to college—into higher education. But even among the students who make it to college, national statistics paint a grim picture of what happens after they get there: Just 11 percent of low-income, first-generation college-goers graduate in six years, according to the Pell Institute, a research group that focuses on access to higher education.

Daily Herald
Illinois education-funding amendment gets initial OK
Votes would be asked to change the Illinois Constitution to declare that the state should be responsible for the majority of public school funding under a measure that advanced in the state House Monday. Republicans on a House education panel that approved the proposal on a 12-4 vote were skeptical of the idea, saying it would make it difficult to fund other budget obligations.

NPR
A union firebrand speaks out on politics, testing and more
Before we can even be seated in the Midtown cafe where we meet, Lily Eskelsen Garcia has begun her barrage of plainspoken, provocative opinions. A Democratic superdelegate, she’s just come from a spot on a morning news show, where, she declared, “Hillary is winning no matter how you look at it.” Garcia started her education career as a lunch lady. Today, as president of the National Education Association, she represents 3 million classroom teachers, plus support staff like school bus drivers, classroom aides and substitutes.

The Brookings Institute
Personalized learning is a useful tool, not a panacea
Blog post by Joshua Bleiberg, Ph. D student at Vanderbilt University
The buzz about personalized learning as a strategy for improving education systems seems to grow by the day. Recently, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg announced they were donating their shares in Facebook (worth an estimated $45 billion) to support personalized learning. Research from RAND makes a useful contribution to the literature on this issue. Personalized learning describes Internet based learning platforms that respond to the user’s learning style, interests, and pre-existing knowledge.