August 14, 2014

Local News

WDDE
Some First State teachers get schooling on Common Core Standards
While some states are pulling out of the federal Common Core education standards, Delaware charter schools are gearing up for another year under the system. Charter school educators, along with some district and independent teachers, participated this week in a two-day development course at Providence Creek Academy in Clayton. The workshop, hosted by the Delaware Charter Schools Network, is designed to train teachers to better implement the Common Core standards.

The News Journal
Mayors big on goals, short on means
An editorial
The Cities of Opportunity task force, which includes Wilmington’s Mayor Dennis Williams, wants to fight what the members see as a growing inequality in the nation. The group said, “We have committed to begin by putting income inequality, early childhood education and broadband at the center of the task force’s national equity agenda…” Good intentions will not carry the day. Real answers will.

Cape Gazette
Teacher learn to bring climate change into classrooms
Throughout the week, teachers worked with presenters from Delaware Sea Grant, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, University of Delaware, University of Maryland and University of California Berkeley who helped them learn new ways of teaching climate change to students. “This is something that can be done. It’s not an insurmountable task,” said Andrea Drewes, member of the learning sciences team for the University of Delaware.

National News

The Tennessean
Metro, other TN school districts stop buying social studies textbooks
A Tennessee school district opted not to purchase social studies textbooks and instead have asked teachers to use websites and other digital resources.

The Atlantic
Black men need more education than white men to get jobs
African American millennial men need two or more levels of education to have the same employment prospects as their white peers, according to a report.

Chalkbeat Colorado
Districts take wary view of new transparency law
Financial reporting will now be required for every school. School district lobbyists did their best to kill the idea during the 2014 legislative session, but now that new financial reporting requirements are law, school districts and the Colorado Department of Education are scratching their heads and sorting out how to make them work.

Kansas City Star
Kansas teachers union sues state over termination law
A Kansas teachers union went to court Monday morning seeking to restore a law that gave them job protection. The Kansas National Education Association filed a lawsuit in Shawnee County District Court asking a judge to declare unconstitutional a new law that strips teachers of a right to a hearing before they are fired.

St. Petersburg Tribune
Pinellas to discuss policy for English Language Learners
students learning English as a second language will have two years to master their skills before their test scores count in school accountability measures.

Roanoke Times
McAuliffe creates ‘Children’s Cabinet’ to focus on state youth
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe created the Children’s Cabinet, which will focus on the education and general welfare of youth through 21 years of age, and the Commonwealth Council on Childhood Success, which will center on children from infancy to third grade.