June 13, 2013
Local News
The News Journal
Crossroads: Pencader Charter closes doors on bittersweet note
As a school year ends, students might find themselves humming the familiar tune featured in the 2000 Disney film ‘Remember the Titans.’ At the high school level, seniors move on and everyone else plan on seeing each other in the fall. At Pencader Charter High School, which opened in New Castle in 2006 along the Delaware River, no Titans will be coming back.
MilfordLive
Public says farewell to Milford Middle School
Former students, teachers and administrators of the Milford Middle School building located on Lakeview Avenue paid their respects on Monday, June 3, as a public walkthrough of the property was held. In January of 2013 a decision was made by the Milford School Board of Education to close the Milford Middle School at the end of the 2012-1013 school year
Delaware State News
House approves charter school reform legislation
After nearly two hours of heated discussion on 11 amendments, lawmakers in the state’s House of Representatives passed an aggressive charter school reform bill Tuesday that updated the charter school code for the state since its creation 18 years ago.
WDEL
Christina School District faces public hearing on agreement
Christina School District faced scrutiny Wednesday during a public hearing over plans to address findings from an investigation into discipline against black students.
National News
The Washington Post
Education Secretary Arne Duncan works to sell Obama administration’s preschool initiative
Arne Duncan woke at 5:30 a.m. in his Arlington County home, was driven to the airport and folded his 6-foot-5 frame into an aisle seat in coach. The education secretary buckled his seat belt and tilted his head back for a short flight to Atlanta, another stop in his uphill effort to sell the Obama administration’s next big idea: pre-kindergarten for every 4-year-old in the country.
Education Week
Most charters don’t have sufficient room to grow, study says
More than half of charter schools are located in facilities that will be too small to allow for their current rate of growth in five years, according to results from a survey by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. In response, the alliance and the Colorado League of Charter Schools have launched the Charter School Facilities Initiative.
States seek flexibility during common-test transition
With the debut of Common Core assessments less than two years away, states, and districts are worried about the accountability systems that hinge on those tests. A growing chorus of policy groups is urging more flexibility in how states evaluate teachers, label schools, and enforce other high-stakes consequences during what’s likely to be a messy transition.
Race is on to ready teacher evaluations in New York City
Administrators and teachers in New York City have just three months to adapt before the expectations of a new teacher-evaluation system kick in. While a small fraction of the teaching force has had training through pilot programs, the final system demands execution on a far larger scale. When it rolls out, it will probably be the country’s largest revamped evaluation system, used for 75,000 teachers.
Related Topics: American Federation of Teachers, CCSS, Center for American Progress, Charlotte Danielson, Charter School Facilities Initiative, charter schools, Colorado League of Charter Schools, Commissioner of Education John B. King, Common Core State Standards, Council of Chief State School Officers, Councilman Jea Street, Councilman Trippi Congo, Delaware Department of Education, First Five Years Fund, Framework for Teaching, Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal, House Bill 165, House Committee on Education and the Workforce, House Education Committee, Joint Finance Committee, Milford School Board of Education, Milford School District, NAPCS, New York, New York City, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, Preschool for All, President Barack Obama, Randi Weingarten, Rep. John Kline, Representative Earl G. Jaques Jr., Superintendent Freeman Williams, Superintendent Phyllis Kohel, teacher evaluations, Texas, the Milford Eleven, U.S. Education department, United Federation of Teachers, Wilmington City Council, Wilmington City Council's Education, Youth and Families Committee