January 16, 2013
Local News
Delaware Department of Education
Delaware students selected for United States Senate Youth Program
Two Delaware students will represent the First State as delegates to the 51st annual United States Senate Youth Program in March. Secretary of Education Mark Murphy selected Thurston Brevett, a Cab Calloway School of the Arts student from Bear, and John Micklos, a Newark High School student from Newark, to head to Washington D.C. as part of the 51st annual Washington Week. John Connolly, a Charter School of Wilmington student from Wilmington, and Zachary Boulden, a St. Mark’s High School student from Newark, were chosen as alternates to the 2013 program. U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons announced the names.
Middletown Transcript
Markell shares travel experiences with Appoquinimink students
Governor Jack Markell told students in Linnea Bradshaw’s Japanese class Tuesday that speaking multiple languages gives them a leg-up in the job market.
National News
Education Week
A hidden supply of high-achieving, low-income students in non-metro areas
High-achieving, low-income students who don’t live in major metropolitan areas are less likely to end up in highly selective colleges. The problem is not a dearth of these students, according to new research. Rather, the vast majority of those students don’t ever apply because they lack information or the encouragement that their high-income, high-achieving counterparts have.
New survey tool aims to weigh parent engagement
A new survey tool that school districts and parent-teacher organizations can use to measure the quality of parent-school relationships has been created by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and released by SurveyMonkey, a Palo Alto, Calif., company, for widespread use by schools, districts, and parent groups. School districts that won Race to the Top federal grants pledged to measure school climate and collect data that includes information about how parents perceive school effectiveness. Ms. Mapp, who was a family- and community-engagement official with the Boston district in 2003-04, said the questions in the tool can be used with that goal in mind as well.
N.Y. governor unveils education agenda
Expanding the amount of learning time for students and creating a new class of higher-paid master teachers are among the major changes that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing, along with opening more community schools that would provide health care and family-counseling services. Much of Cuomo’s education agenda is based on a recent report from a state task force.
Des Moines Register
$187 million education reform plan focuses on teacher career paths
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad unveiled his education proposal that calls for a complete overhaul of educator duties and compensation. The plan would create new career paths for teachers and calls for teacher and administrator evaluations to take student achievement into account. Other items include developing college-ready and career-ready diploma seals and expanding Iowa Learning Online.
Baton Rouge Advocate
White: High standards limit teacher tenure
Relatively few public school teachers will earn tenure in the future because Louisiana’s new standards are “uncompromisingly high,” state Superintendent of Education John White said. Among White’s proposed changes: teachers who finish in the 80th percentile would be rated as “highly effective” rather than the current requirement, which is the 90th percentile.
Related Topics: Achievement Gap, global competitiveness, Low-income, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Preparation