March 27, 2013
LOCAL NEWS
WHYY
Delaware names three high achieving green ribbon schools
Three Delaware schools are in the running for one of the highest national honors to be awarded after they were named the state’s Green Ribbon award winners. The 2013 Delaware Green Ribbon winners are Conrad School of Science and Richardson Park Elementary School both of Red Clay School District and St. Andrew’s, which is a private school. “Congratulations to the educators, students, families and communities who are supporting each of these buildings for working to reduce their building’s environmental impact while championing student learning,” Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said. Under the Green Ribbon program, schools are recognized for achievement and progress in areas from reducing environmental impact or costs to improving the health of students and staff. Schools are also challenged to provide effective environmental education by raising green career awareness and incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics also known as STEM.
The News Journal
Innovative William Penn class puts roadkill to good use
Bambi, a common white-tailed deer about a year old, met a tragic end sometime this month when he was struck by a car on Del. 273. But unlike most roadkill, Bambi wasn’t left to an ignoble disposal by road crews. Instead, his body is being used for science. Baker and his classmates have been studying Bambi’s carcass as a practical case study in their evidence and forensics class. The class mixes social studies subjects like criminal justice and law with the biology of decomposition and other crime-scene science. The course’s instructors, Frank Lusch and Jeff Bosco, wanted to find a way to give the students hands-on experience similar to that in the book.
The Hockessin Community News
McKean High School radio students shine in state competition
DECA is a marketing education program whose membership is open to all students who are enrolled in a state approved career and technical marketing education program. At the DECA statewide competition, there were 35 different events to choose from and Ruiz and Hall chose public relations because they were both involved in communications and business classes at McKean High School, Ruiz said. Their project aimed to enhance McKean radio’s standing in the community by raising revenue for the station, increasing its number of listeners and promoting The Edge, available at 88.1 FM and via television on Comcast channel 965, within the Mill Creek Hundred community. McKean Principal Dr. Lisa Ueltzhoffer and Red Clay Superintendent Dr. Merv Daugherty said they glad their students were able to show the rest of the state what kind of talent they have.
NATIONAL NEWS
Education Week
Testing group approves performance-level descriptions
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium approved a set of “achievement-level descriptors” for how students must perform in order to score at each level of its test. These are likely to undergo revision, so the organization is calling them “initial” descriptors. But even at this stage, they offer a glimpse into the group’s thinking as it designs assessments for the Common Core standards.
Newark Star-Ledger
Cerf calls Camden Schools ‘human catastrophe’ as State seizes control
Calling the problems “chronic and severe,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced the state will take over the city’s school system, making it the fourth district under state control. Christie said it’s too early to set a timeline for how the Camden school board could regain control. Since the takeover law was enacted in the late 1980s, the state has not given back control of any district.
Chronicle of Higher Education
Supreme Court takes up challenge to Michigan ban on race-conscious admissions
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to weigh the constitutionality of Michigan’s voter-passed ban on the use of racial or ethnic preferences in public-college admissions. Similar bans exist in six other states. In a separate case, the Court is expected to rule in a legal challenge to a race-conscious undergraduate admissions policy adopted by the University of Texas at Austin.
The Los Angeles Times
Taking a crack at California’s education system
Michelle Rhee came to prominence as the tough-minded chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools. Now she’s in Sacramento, taking on this state’s system — and its teachers unions. In Rhee’s world, as she recently told crowds in Los Angeles and Sacramento, teacher seniority protections are “whack,” principals can be “nutty” and charter schools can be “crappy.” Such frank talk has made the controversial former teacher a celebrity and potential political powerhouse. StudentsFirst, the advocacy group Rhee founded in California’s capital, where she lives with her husband, Mayor Kevin Johnson, is positioning itself as the political counterweight to teachers unions. Funded by entrepreneurs and philanthropists, it’s pushing to elect candidates and rewrite policies on charter schools, teacher assessment and other charged issues in at least 17 states, including California.