April 9, 2014

Local News

The News Journal
State’s college push seems to be working
Gov. Jack Markell is expected to announce this progress in the state’s “Getting to Zero” initiative Wednesday when he and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visit Mount Pleasant High School in Penny Hill to discuss college readiness with local students. The goal is to have the number of college-ready students not applying to college at zero.

Markell outlines manufacturing education plan
Gov. Jack Markell on Tuesday outlined a program to allow high school juniors and seniors to obtain professional manufacturing certificates upon graduation, his office announced. It is part of the governor’s job-creation initiatives, and his office said it would help provide students with a road map from the classroom to employment. Markell had previewed the initiative during his State of the State address earlier this year.

Why do Delaware parents pick charter schools?
An editorial
Some legislators are worried that too many charter schools will take money and students from Red Clay schools. They argue this would be a detriment to the district and to public school education. They have a point. Looked at from the institution’s point of view, these charter schools do pose a threat. However, what does it look like from the point of view of the parents who would send their children to these schools? What do they see? What is the need they are trying to fill?

Cape Gazette
Perhaps we found common ground in support for schools
An op-ed by Don Flood
I’ve always had sympathy for public school administrators. They have to go directly to the people to ask for tax increases, which is hard enough even in good times. It’s the only tax people get to vote up or down themselves, and lately we’ve been inundated with potential tax increases.

Voter approval of new school is not an invitation for growth
An editorial
Cape voters sent a strong message last week: Children deserve up-to¬date schools built where they live. Sixty percent of Cape voters approved a tax increase to pay for a new elementary school on Route 24, across the road from the Beacon Middle School campus. But that should not mean voters want more growth. Opponents to the plan complained Route 24 is already congested, and most Cape Region residents would agree. Still, by building a school closer to where hundreds of students live, the new school should shorten bus rides – and that means more children will get to school faster.

Delaware State News
Incumbent Collins cites experience in school board re-election bid
Mr. Collins, the police chief for the town of Selbyville, is one of three candidates from the Selbyville area seeking the two five-year terms in the May 13 school board elections. Bobbi Barends and fellow incumbent Doug Hudson are the other candidates.

WDDE
Delaware launches School Breakfast Challenge
250 anti-hunger advocates gathered at the Christiana Hilton Monday for the second annual “Ending Hunger Through Citizen Service” conference. The highlight of the day-long event was the official launch of the School Breakfast Challenge. Delaware Department of Education Secretary Mark Murphy announced a total of $20,000 is available to schools that increase their participation in the school breakfast program.

National News

Wall Street Journal
Caught in the New York City charter school debate
In late February, Mayor Bill de Blasio revoked a plan that would have allowed Harlem Central and its nearly 200 students to co-locate in the 117th Street building, alongside both the district school and another Success Academy charter already on site. But the freshly signed state-budget deal forces the city to accommodate charter schools within public-school buildings, or provide part of the funding toward private space.

Education Week
K12 Inc. building a new identity for part of the company
K12 Inc., the publicly traded virtual education provider, says a rebranding move is meant to group a number of similar resources under a single, marketable banner, Fuel Education—and not to distance those offerings from a recent spate of critical news reports affecting the company as a whole.

The Wichita Eagle
Kansas budget overhaul boosts aid to poor school districts
Kansas lawmakers have given final approval to a plan that would increase aid to poor school districts and eliminate tenure for public school teachers. The bill now goes to Gov. Sam Brownback for consideration.

The Roanoke Times
Virginia to replace some tests with project-based learning
Students in elementary and middle schools in Virginia will take fewer assessments next year under a bill recently signed by the governor. The measure will eliminate five tests, including the social studies and science, and students instead will be asked to complete project-based assessments.

Inside Higher Ed
STEM enrollment booms, not at expense of liberal arts
New data suggest that undergraduates at four-year institutions have become more likely to study the science and technology fields, especially engineering and biology.

The Boston Globe
In Massachusetts, many families get no help to pay for early education cost
About 19,000 children age 3 and 4 from low-income Massachusetts families, who probably cannot afford early education programs, do not get public assistance for preschool or prekindergarten, according to a new report from a budget research group.