August 1, 2016
Delaware News
Cape Gazette
First State hosts energy education workshop for children
First State Community Action Agency, in partnership with Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility, hosted an Energy Workshop for Children in Georgetown June 30. First State invited families from its Repair, Replace Heaters and Conserve Energy Program to participate in the workshop.
Delaware Public Media
State Board of Education violated sunshine laws in WEIC hearing
Delaware Justice Department officials say the state Board of Education violated open meetings laws when it didn’t provide enough space during a contentious meeting this past winter. State Rep. Kim Williams (D-Newport) filed the complaint when the board considered a controversial Wilmington school redistricting plan in its normal meeting room.
Newark Post
Summer camp teaches robotics, forensics
The children gathered around it as if it was a new puppy – waving, smiling and gently stroking its head. A few of them even named it Fred, but their new “friend” wasn’t exactly a ball of fur with four paws. Instead, it was a 70-pound robot used by the Delaware State Police bomb squad.
Sussex County Post
Sussex Central students earn International Baccalaureate diplomas
Two Sussex Central High School students earned International Baccalaureate diplomas in 2016. Miranda Arnold of Georgetown and Mikayla Ockels of Milton earned full IB diplomas by completing course work and passing written exams in chemistry, biology, math, history, art, English and Spanish.
U.S. Department of Education
Education Secretary King to visit Colorado, Delaware as part of early learning tour
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. will begin a two-day tour in Colorado and Delaware to highlight the work both states are doing to improve access to high-quality early learning. He will visit Denver, Colorado, on Monday, Aug. 1, and Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday Aug. 2, for classroom visits and roundtable discussions with state and local officials and early learning stakeholders on the importance of providing high-quality early learning opportunities for all children.
The Washington Post
Early childhood education gets push from $1 billion federal investment
Colorado and Delaware are among the 20 states that received more than $1 billion in federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants to bolster the quality of early learning education and to make it more widely available. The grants, authorized by Congress in 2011, are jointly administered by the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.
National News
Chalkbeat
NYC reading scores leap, matching state average for first time
The share of New York City students who passed the state English exams jumped by nearly 8 points this year to 38 percent, matching the state average for the first time, state officials said Friday. That spike beat the statewide increase by one point, and is four times greater than the city’s year-over-year increase in 2015.
Education Week
K-12 fights for airtime as presidential election issue
Is K-12 education poised to catch fire in the policy debates leading up to November’s presidential election, now less than 100 days away? Don’t bet on it. Based on the dynamics at the just-finished Democratic and Republican conventions—and the profiles of the two nominees—K-12 is likely to lag behind other issues in a tumultuous election year dominated by national-security concerns, immigration, and sheer force of personality.
The Hechinger Report
Presentations and portfolios take the place of tests for some students
One afternoon this spring, tension ran high at City-As-School in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. In drab classrooms, students, many of whom have struggled with school, presented research that would determine whether they would graduate this year. Fellow students listened, murmuring words of encouragement as two teachers pressed the speakers on their findings.
NPR
The importance of getting things wrong
Philip Sadler is both a professor of astronomy and the director of the science education department at Harvard University. Sadler says that cognitive science tells us that if you don’t understand the flaws in students’ reasoning, you’re not going to be able to dislodge their misconceptions and replace them with the correct concepts.