April 8, 2015
Delaware News
The News Journal
Delaware’s system of school tax votes debated
Delaware’s two largest school districts are facing controversy and tough decisions over their attempts to raise property taxes, reigniting the debate over how schools are funded.
Why Delaware needs nonprofit coding academy
By Porter Schutt, a Partner and Head of the Delaware office at Brown Advisory; Jim Stewart, CEO of Epic Research and co-founder and former President of Juniper Bank/BarclaycardUS; and Ben DuPont, co-founder of yet2 & founder and managing director of yet2Ventures
We are founding Zip Code Wilmington, a non-profit coding school. With support from more than twenty companies and encouraging words from Sen. Tom Carper and Gov. Jack Markell, Zip Code Wilmington will focus on two of the most critical programming skill shortages, Java and ASP.Net.
WHYY
Delaware State University scores STEM grant
Delaware State University will receive $300,000 to build three new engineering and technology laboratories. The money comes courtesy of InterDigital, a Wilmington-based firm responsible for advancements in cellular and tablet technology.
Delaware State News
Students engineer real-world experience
The Camden Wyoming Sewer & Water Authority is working with the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers on the “Laboratory for Learning” program. Through the program, students said they were able to see the practical application of what they learn in school — how engineering looks in the real world.
Dover Post
Students learn of untapped fields at Del Tech STEM Expo
Michelle Garey, a mathematics department chair who coordinated the event, said the Expo targeted both middle school and high school students with the aim of increasing STEM awareness.
National News
Education Week
Senate education leaders unveil bipartisan compromise to rewrite ESEA
Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., unveiled a bipartisan bill Tuesday to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that the two have been brokering for more than two months. You can read a summary of the Alexander/Murray compromise here.
Board-certified teachers more effective, new studies affirm
The evidence continues to mount that teachers who earn national-board certification are more effective than other teachers, both at the high school and elementary levels.
Home Room
A matter of equity: Preschool in America
All parents hope their child will start school ready for success. Unfortunately, not every parent can find the high-quality early learning opportunity that sets their child up for success. The U.S. Department of Education released a new report outlining the unmet need for high-quality early learning programs in America. Roughly 60 percent of 4-year-olds are not enrolled in publicly funded preschool programs, and even fewer are enrolled in the highest quality programs.
U.S. News and World Report
‘Opting out’ into school choice
Opinion by Andrew Rotherham, cofounder and partner at Bellwether Education Partners
The logical next step for the anti-Common Core ‘opt-out’ movement is opting out of entire schools. It may well be that test-based accountability has run its course in public education. If so, the opt-out movement – ironically fueled by self-interested teachers unions – may be pointing us to what’s next: a lot more choice and unbundling of services in public education.
The Hechinger Report
Some high schools following their graduates straight into college
With the odds of a poor, first-generation student earning a bachelor’s degree within six years of high school graduation at about one in 10, a small but growing number of schools are trying to help alumni avoid the crippling debt and dim prospects that come with dropping out.