August 7, 2015

Delaware News

Delaware Public Media
Christina School District grapples with budget cuts as new school year approaches
With a little more than three weeks left before the start of the new school year for their 15,300 or so students, officials in the Christina School District are still crunching numbers on final budget cuts and about half of the teachers laid off following a pair of failed referendums are still looking for work.

Christina School District superintendent takes leave of absence
There’s a change at the top in the Christina School District. Superintendent Dr. Freeman Williams has submitted documentation to begin a leave of absence, effective immediately

The News Journal
Christina schools superintendent takes leave of absence
Christina Superintendent Freeman Williams is taking a leave of absence, effective immediately. District spokeswoman Wendy Lapham said she could not give a reason for the absence or how long Williams would be gone because it is a personnel matter.

New day for two inner-city Wilmington schools
Though they were embroiled in controversy in the bitter fight over six Wilmington Priority Schools earlier this year, staff at Warner and Shortlidge elementary schools say they’re hopeful that big moves they’re making this summer will lead to positive change. The schools are reconfiguring their grades, with Shortlidge serving kindergarten, first and second grade and Warner serving third, fourth and fifth grade.

Delaware Today
Fixing Wilmington’s schools
The city’s classrooms are once again segregated, but there just might be, at long last, some hope.

National News

Education Week
Common Core is premier education issue in GOP presidential debate
Jeb Bush has taken a lot of flak from his GOP opponents for supporting the common-core standards, a position he’s steadfastly backed, even as his conservative contemporaries have waged battle against them.

The Brookings Institution
Analyzing trends in Pell Grant recipients and expenditures
Why has the number of Pell recipients declined over the past two years after such a sharp increase between 2008 and 2010? Two factors are at play.

The Atlantic
Building a prison-to-college pipeline
If there’s an argument against giving Pell grants to prisoners that particularly galls Education Secretary Arne Duncan, it’s the suggestion by some Republicans that the Obama administration is taking money intended for hard-working students and giving it to criminals.

The New York Times
The continuing reality of segregated schools
Article by Nikole Hannah-Jones
I teamed up with Chana Joffe-Walt, a producer for the radio program “This American Life,” to tell the story of Michael Brown’s school district through the students who remain there. It is a story of children locked away from opportunity, what happens when those children are given a chance to escape failing schools and what happens to those children left behind.

Seattle Times
State sets new minimum scores for high-school graduation
The Washington Board of Education set new minimum scores that high-school students must reach on English and math tests to graduate, but that are lower than a national consortium recommended would indicate a student is ready for college or a career.