March 19, 2013
Local News
DE Department of Education
Delaware’s Education Insight draws foundation visit
Representatives from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation will be visiting Delaware Thursday to review the First State’s use of its Education Insight system, which allows educators to make data-driven decisions to improve instruction and learning. The system is designed to be a one-stop for student, class, school and district performance information.
WDEL
BSD board members talk Common Core and Anti-Bullying
Brandywine School District will join many other school districts statewide in Dover on Saturday to take part in a professional development opportunity to implement the Common Core curriculum into schools. The curriculum hopes to give parents and teachers a clear understanding of what each student should learn and skills they should obtain to prepare them for their future. Brandywine School District’s Superintendent, Dr. Mark Holodick, told WDEL that bringing this new curriculum into the classrooms will take time, but it needs to stay consistent throughout the district.
National News
Education Week
In Common Core, teachers see interdisciplinary opportunities
Educators around the country are exploring innovative ways to teach the new common-core literacy standards, and some are calling attention to an approach they say is working well: interdisciplinary thematic units. Whether they’ve had these types of units in their repertoires for years or are just now jumping into such cross-curricular work, educators say the new standards support this type of teaching in several ways.
Race to Top winners can apply for extra year to finish work
The U.S. Department of Education will consider, on a case-by-case basis, granting the original 12 Race to the Top winners an extra year to finish their work. Next school year was set to be the fourth and last year for the Race to the Top program, the $4 billion education-redesign competition for states funded under the economic-stimulus package passed by Congress in 2009. But delays have plagued many winning states as they seek to make good on their promises, and states have been slow to spend their money.
The Washington Post
Prince George’s county executive moves to take over struggling school system
Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III is planning a takeover of the county’s struggling school system, seeking state legislation that would put him in charge of the school superintendent and $1.7 billion budget while significantly reducing the power of the elected Board of Education. Should Baker (D) succeed, it would mark a dramatic shift in power and result in a hybrid of the restructurings that have taken place in big cities across the country, such as the District and New York, where reform-minded executives have wrested control of embattled school systems.
The Huffington Post
Colleges Use project win-win to boost graduation rates and award degrees
The Project Win-Win has helped community colleges and four-year schools in several states find hundreds of ex-students who have either earned enough credits to receive associate degrees or are just a few classes shy of getting them. As the Lumina Foundation-backed project winds down, some participating schools plan to continue the effort on their own.
Salt Lake Tribune
Controversial school grading bill passes legislature
Utah lawmakers passed S.B. 271, which would mandate a specific system for assigning schools grades of A-F next school year, despite concerns about its meaning for schools. The bill proposes a different plan than the one education leaders have been working on since original school grading legislation was signed into law in 2011 as part of the state’s NCLB waiver.
Related Topics: Common Core, Data Systems, DDOE, ED, Education Technology, Grants, Higher Education