April 25, 2016

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Delaware students to compete in state Envirothon April 28
Students from around the state will meet at Brecknock Park in Camden Thursday, April 28, to compete in the 21st annual Delaware Envirothon. This year, 100 students representing nine high schools and one 4-H Club will compete for more than $5,700 in college scholarships and cash awards. The Envirothon is a team-based outdoor academic competition which challenges high school students’ knowledge and practical application of aquatic ecology, forestry, soils/land use, wildlife, air quality, special environmental topics and public speaking.

Sussex Academy grows to serve all high school and middle school grades
Sussex Academy will have enrollment in all four high school grades next year. The Class of 2017 will be its first graduating high school class. The charter school opened under the name Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, serving 225 students in sixth through eighth grades. In 2012, the middle school received approval for a major charter modification to add a high school. In 2013, the school name was changed to Sussex Academy, the school moved into its current location at 21150 Airport Road in Georgetown and the first ninth-grade class was enrolled.

Sussex County Post
Clayton Elementary fourth grade/special education teacher IRSD’s overall honoree
Melissa Grise of John M. Clayton Elementary School has been selected as the Indian River School District’s Teacher of the Year for 2016-2017. The announcement was made at the district’s annual Teacher of the Year celebration on April 15 at The Clubhouse at Baywood Greens. Ms. Grise was chosen as the district’s overall winner from a pool of 16 candidates, one from each school. She has been a fourth-grade general and special education teacher at John M. Clayton Elementary School since 2010. Previously, she was a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at North Georgetown Elementary School from 2003-2010.

The News Journal
Design-Lab High School goes for major grant
A Newark charter school is competing for a $10 million grant aimed at redefining what a high school is, and its grant proposal is based largely on its own educational model. “We’re being challenged to create a brand new school,” said Martin Rayala, chief academic officer for Delaware Design-Lab High School, which opened last August. The school is part of a nationwide consortium that integrates design into the educational curriculum – it uses “design thinking processes” in every class, Rayala said, explaining that the goal is to teach students to think critically and solve problems.

Common Core grants worth $400K
The state handed out $400,000 in grants to help put in place Common Core standards. The grants are an extension of a program Delaware began in 2013 called Common Ground for the Common Core aimed at getting teachers on track to adjust to new standards for math and English education. Gov. Jack Markell announced awards to 21 schools this week across the state while he was visiting the W. Reily Brown Elementary School in Dover on Thursday. That school’s district, Caesar Rodney, got a $50,000 award.

WDEL
Professional learning grants awarded to Delaware schools
Governor Jack Markell announced grants awarded to 21 schools in seven districts to support implementation of Common Core standards. The professional learning grants total nearly $400,000, and the funding will provide professional learning that continues to target the school level. “The most important investment that we can make is in our educators, so that they can bring that additional training to the classroom,” Markell suggested as he made the announcement Thursday at Brown Elementary School in Dover.

National

Education Dive
Why testing prevails in K-12 education
The Obama administration on Friday announced new priorities surrounding the Enhancement Assessment Grant program, designed to help states and districts get smarter about standardized testing. The new efforts build upon an October 2015 announcement of President Barack Obama’s new Testing Action Plan, which called for a reexamination of the way tests are used in schools. The president said students “should only take tests that are worth taking — tests that are high quality, aimed at good instruction, and make sure everyone is on track,” testing shouldn’t take up too much classroom time, and the assessments should be one tool in a more complete toolbox to help schools get an indication of student progress and school and teacher effectiveness.

Education Week
How Should Schools Purchase Ed. Tech?
School districts across the United States spend billions of dollars every year on educational technology—buying everything from desktop, laptop, and tablet computers to apps, online courses, e-books, videos, and software. Unfortunately, a sizable chunk of that money is being wasted on products that are overpriced and underperform, diverting school funding that could be better used to benefit students in other ways. Ed tech has become a big business: In 2015, startups in the United States raised $1.85 billion from investors in almost 200 deals, according to EdSurge.

Newsworks
The cold realities of education in a poor Pennsylvania school district
This winter, high school junior Jameria Miller would run to Spanish class. But not to get a good seat. “The cold is definitely a distraction,” Jameria says. “We race to class to get the best blankets.” Because the classroom has uninsulated metal walls, Jameria’s teacher would hand out blankets. First come, first served. Such is life in the William Penn School District – an impoverished, predominantly African-American school system situated among Philadelphia’s inner-ring suburbs.

NPR
Can More Money Fix America’s Schools?
This winter, Jameria Miller would often run to her high school Spanish class, though not to get a good seat. She wanted a good blanket. “The cold is definitely a distraction,” Jameria says of her classroom’s uninsulated, metal walls. Her teacher provided the blankets. First come, first served. Such is life in the William Penn School District in an inner-ring suburb of Philadelphia. The hardest part for Jameria, though, isn’t the cold. It’s knowing that other schools aren’t like this.

The Charlotte Observer
NC teacher raises are top goal in education budget
Education budgets are the viscera of state campaigns, and attention to spending will be heightened in this legislative session as Gov. Pat McCrory heads into what seems a close race with Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. Teacher raises always draw the most attention, and McCrory already has laid out his plan for an average raise of 5 percent, which would increase average teacher pay to about $50,000 a year.  Also in his plan are bonuses ranging from $1,100 to $5,000, with the biggest bonuses going to teachers with more than 24 years experience.