August 27, 2014
Local News
The News Journal
New school year, new opportunities for parents
An op-ed by Lt. Gov. Matt Denn
In the next few days, every public school in the state will receive an application for one of the state’s Accelerated Academic Program grants. These grants, now in their second year, were created by legislation I wrote with several legislators to give public schools the opportunity to create new programs that would better challenge those students capable of doing schoolwork beyond their current grade level.
Wesley College president to retire next year
This will be the final school year for Wesley College president William N. Johnston, the Dover-based college announced Tuesday. Johnston began working as president in 2008, making him the 16th president of Wesley College. He told the school’s board of trustees on Aug. 24 that he plans to retire at the end of the 2014-2015 school year.
Kids left on school bus for hours
Many parents at Academia Antonia Alonso charter school are fuming after buses carrying students home from the first day Monday arrived late, with one bus getting so mixed up that parents didn’t see their children until 7 p.m.
Unions don’t control school boards
A letter to the editor by Harrie Ellen Minnehan, Newark
I have NO ties to the union. No other member of the Christina Board even comes close to having a “significant connection” to the teachers’ union, unless he calls being a parent of a child taught by a teacher who might be a union member a connection.
Delaware State News
School bell tolls for Caesar Rodney district students and teachers
For most students in Delaware, Monday was the first day of school — 10 school districts across the state opened their doors for the year. For Brook Castillo, the principal at McIlvaine, the first day of school has a special significance; McIlvaine is a kindergarten center, so Monday was the first day of school ever for the students there.
National News
Education Week
Students’ help-seeking strategies offer clues for educators
Researchers say teachers and policymakers can learn a lot about students’ mindsets and school climate by watching how students get the help they need in class.
Gist wants to delay test-based graduation plan
The state education commissioner recommended that a required graduation test for high school seniors be delayed by another three years, making the class of 2020 the first to have to pass.
Deborah Gist on Monday urged the state Board of Education’s Council on Elementary and Secondary Education to hold public hearings on her plan to delay the testing requirement from 2017 to 2020. Gov. Lincoln Chafee said Tuesday he supports Gist’s recommendation.
Better oversight needed of federal program for homeless students, GAO says
A Government Accountability Office report found that the federal program that ensures homeless students have access to the public education system is hampered by limited staff and resources, lack of coordination, and more.
U.S. Ed. Sec. Duncan: Too much testing costs teachers and students ‘precious time’
Secretary Duncan proclaimed that the department “wants to be part of the solution” to the problems of bad tests and over-testing (and, of course, the problem that his announcement was aimed at solving: using test scores in evaluations while teachers are transitioning to new tests and standards).
Washington Post
One-third of Virginia’s schools could lack full accreditation as standards toughen
Nearly one-third of Virginia’s public schools will not earn full accreditation this fall after reading and science scores dropped precipitously on state-mandated standardized tests, according to state education officials. Officials estimate that 600 or more of the state’s approximately 1,800 schools could be “accredited with warning” next month — an exponential increase from five years ago, when 15 Virginia schools had the downgraded status.