August 25, 2016
Delaware News
Newark Post
School starts next week for most local kids
After 75 days of freedom for local kids, summer vacation officially comes to an end next week for most students. As usual, Christina School District schools will open on a staggered schedule. Aug. 29 signals the start of class for students in grades 1-6, as well as high school freshmen. It’s also the first day of school for all students at the Brennan School, Delaware School for the Deaf, REACH Program and Sarah Pyle Academy.
Smyrna-Clayton Sun-Times
Teachers stay busy during ‘vacation’ with training, conferences and classes
Professional athletes can’t afford to sit around during the offseason. They’re working out, getting quicker and reflecting on the good and the bad of the previous season. A teacher’s life is no different. After the final bell, teachers roll up their sleeves and prepare for a summer of self-improvement.
Sussex Countian
A teacher’s guide to summer vacation
Professional athletes can’t afford to sit around during the offseason. They’re working out, getting quicker and reflecting on the good and the bad of the previous season. A teacher’s life is no different. Students scatter after the final bell. Teachers, however, roll up their sleeves and prepare for a summer of self-improvement.
The Milford Beacon
United Way supports back to school
The United Way of Delaware and some volunteers are helping to make the first week of school an enjoyable one. Both teachers and students arrived on Aug. 23. The district is working with the Dover Federal Credit Union. Elementary school teachers were presented with volunteers to help set up classrooms and welcome back mug filled with goodies.
Districts strategize to bypass bus troubles
On Aug. 2 Capital School District Transportation Supervisor Bruce Ashby received what he calls “a transportation supervisor’s worst nightmare.” With students set to return to school on Aug. 25, the district was facing a unique challenge. One of its school bus contractors went out of business due to financial problems.
The News Journal
‘Hugfest’ kicks off the school year in Rodney Square
Rodney Square will be hosting a “hugfest” for an hour on Thursday afternoon, and women from across the city are invited. A teen support group called Girls Can Do Anything is putting on the event for girls and women from all over Wilmington to gather and support each other before the start of the new school year.
To move Wilmington forward tomorrow, invest in our youth today
Opinion by Eugene Young, Advocacy Director at Delaware Center for Justice
The other day I was walking down Washington Street when I ran into a young man who was once a student at Delaware Elite, the nonprofit I co-founded ten years ago. I first met this young man when he was in middle school. He was raised by his grandmother with no support from his parents. He was a good kid trying to make it out of his situation, but he struggled in school.
WDEL
Bigger numbers of high school grads taking ACT college test
Nearly two out of three of this year’s high-school graduates took the ACT college entrance exam, and the scores suggest many aren’t ready for the rigors of college-level courses. The testing company said only 38 percent of graduating seniors who took the exam hit the college-prepared benchmark in at least three of the four core subjects tested – reading, English, math and science.
National News
Education Week
Who’s responsible for student learning?
Commentary by Marc F. Bernstein, retired district superintendent of schools in New York
From the paltry amount of attention paid to the state of American education in the 2016 presidential campaign so far, one might think we’ve already successfully figured out how to prepare America’s children for the challenges of a global, high-tech, competitive environment. Reality disagrees. Our students are not improving.
Pa. Education Department creating separate division for charter schools
Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that he will establish a division of charter schools within the state’s education department to better support the state’s growing charter school sector. The division’s staff members will provide charter schools with fiscal and academic oversight and help manage the state’s charter school reauthorization process.
Magic Valley
New Idaho plan replaces No Child Left Behind
Idaho will soon have a new way to gauge public school performance. Earlier this month, the Idaho Board of Education approved a framework for a new accountability system. A plan is still being developed and will be tested out this school year. Idaho is required to create a plan to align with the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which was signed into law in 2015. It largely replaces No Child Left Behind.
The New York Times
As students return to school, debate about the amount of homework rages
How much homework is enough? My daughter, Maya, who is entering second grade, was asked to complete homework six days a week during the summer. For a while, we tried gamely to keep up. But one day she turned to me and said, “I hate reading.” I put the assignment aside. That was my abrupt introduction to the debate over homework that is bubbling up as students across the United States head back to school.
TIME
Virginia school district disproportionately punishes black students, complaint says
Black students and students with disabilities are disciplined more harshly than their classmates in Richmond, Va.’s public schools, according to a complaint filed Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The anti-discrimination complaint, filed against Richmond Public Schools, was brought by two black students with disabilities and the Richmond branch of the NAACP.