July 24, 2013

Local News

The News Journal
Six schools set to participate in expanded language program
When Gov. Jack Markell walked into a classroom at Downes Elementary School in Newark on Tuesday, he was greeted by a cluster of cheering first-graders. “Ni Hao!” they shouted in unison – “hello” in Mandarin Chinese. The students are part of a Chinese Language Immersion Summer Camp the Christina School District is offering this summer. Their teachers speak only Mandarin throughout the school day, leading students in songs, dances and other activities. Downes is one of six schools statewide that will launch full foreign-language immersion programs in the coming school year as Markell’s administration pushes to expand efforts to train more multilingual Delaware students.

Sussex County Post
DCAS: Indian River School District students surpass state average
Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System scores for Indian River School District students in reading, math, science and social studies were significantly higher than the overall state average, but not up to 2012 levels. Released by the Delaware Department of Education July 18, DCAS scores revealed the percentage of IRSD students in grades 3-10 who met or exceeded performance standards surpassed the state average in every DCAS assessment area

The Dover Post
Stokes Elementary keeps kids reading all summer
A school teacher may be the last person a student wants to see during summer vacation, but Nellie H. Stokes Elementary School students were running to greet teachers and administrators on Thursday when the school’s faculty pulled into the Meadowbrook Acres neighborhood in Woodside. The faculty and staff came out to provide the kids ice pops, free books and bags of food courtesy of the Food Bank of Delaware as part of the school’s summer reading program titled, Summer Reading is Hot, Hot, Hot.

National News

Education Week
When bad things happen to good NAEP data
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is widely viewed as the most accurate and reliable yardstick of U.S. students’ academic knowledge. But when it comes to many of the ways the exam’s data are used, researchers have gotten used to gritting their teeth. Results from the venerable exam are frequently pressed into service to bolster claims about the effect that policies, from test-based accountability to collective bargaining to specific reading and math interventions, have had on student achievement.

Community College Times
Colleges strengthen their K-12 partnerships
Community colleges have long recognized the benefit of reaching out to high schools as a way of ensuring incoming students are ready for college-level work. While dual enrollment and early college initiatives are becoming increasingly common ways to do this, some colleges are taking such initiatives a step further by combining a “fifth year” of high school with the freshman year of college.

The Washington Post
Georgia, Oklahoma say Common Core tests are too costly and decide not to adopt them
Citing costs, Georgia and Oklahoma have decided against adopting standardized tests being created by a consortium of states as part of the new Common Core national academic standards. And politicians in other states — including Indiana and Florida, which has been a leader in the development of the Common Core — are voicing similar concerns, suggesting that more defections could be on the way.

The Fairmont Sentinel
Fairmont shortening school day
Fairmont Area School Board has approved a schedule change that will shave 15 minutes from the school day beginning in September. The high school will begin classes at 8:30 a.m. and be dismissed at 3 p.m. The elementary will begin at 8:15 a.m. and dismiss at 2:55 p.m. The change is being implemented to allow for regular professional development times for teachers during the eight-hour contract day.

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