August 10, 2016
Delaware News
The Newark Post
Did you know? A school’s design can improve academic success
In recent years, policymakers have focused on how to improve student performance, scrutinizing factors like school day start times and the nutritional value of school-provided meals. However, the basic design and configuration of schools and classrooms can also have a major impact on student success, and this fact is now getting its due attention.
The Rodel Foundation
August Teacher Newsletter
Four ways to revolutionize education in your classroom and state. The Rodel Teacher Newsletter is a resource for Delaware’s teachers to learn about teacher leadership opportunities across the state, nation, and world.
Digging Deeper: Are DE 8th graders ready for high school?
Smarter Assessment results are just one way of checking whether students are on track for high school and beyond. While the state made overall gains, a closer look at scores allows for us to see exactly how prepared eighth graders are for high school.
Smyrna-Clayton Sun-Times
Smyrna FFA Ag forum team and chapter display qualify for national convention
A Smyrna High School FFA team took their show on the road – first in the community, then at the Delaware State Fair – and now they’ve earned a trip to the National FFA Convention in October. Students Jessica Bright, Taylor Davis, Grant Dinsmore, Erin Smallwood and Trey Thompson competed in the Delaware FFA Agricultural Issues Forum and won first place, qualifying for the National Convention in Indianapolis.
National News
Chalkbeat
Can school closures boost academic achievement? Memphis school leaders track students to find out
As Shelby County Schools seeks to make school closures more about boosting academic achievement than cutting costs, district leaders are tracking the performance of displaced students in their new schools. Shelby County Schools and the former Memphis City Schools have closed at least 22 schools since 2012, but it wasn’t until last year that the district started gathering data to measure how displaced students are faring in their new schools, according to Superintendent Dorsey Hopson.
The Hechinger Report
Baltimore summer school does the seemingly impossible—the kids actually want to be there
Researchers estimate that low-income students lose two months’ progress in reading and math every summer. That means they can fall more than a year behind before high school, even if they are keeping pace with their wealthier peers during the school year.
Pop-ups bring preschool to low income communities
Of the more than 200,000 children ages 5 and younger in Silicon Valley, some 50,000 live in low-income families, according to a 2016 analysis by the Urban Institute. Nationally, the figure is close to 11 million children age 6 and younger classified as “low-income.” That’s an income of less than twice the federal poverty level, which, in 2015, was $24,036 for a family of four with two children under 18.
The New York Times
Facebook helps develop software that puts students in charge of their lesson plans
Facebook is out to upend the traditional student-teacher relationship. On Tuesday, Facebook and Summit Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school network with headquarters in Silicon Valley, announced that nearly 120 schools planned this fall to introduce a free student-directed learning system developed jointly by the social network and the charter schools.
The Washington Post
Camp hopes to close tech industry gender gap by teaching girls to code
One group created a website to help sexual-assault survivors. Another launched an online forum to engage teenagers in politics. And then there was the educational game that spewed out facts about the environment as players progressed. The Web coders behind the projects? All teenage girls.