August 28, 2013

Local News

The News Journal
Technology helps teachers reach children in new ways
Some students across Delaware are going back to school in the classroom of the future, finding their pencils and paper replaced with tablet computers and their chalkboards swapped with big-screen TVs. Different Delaware schools are using different technological tools, ranging from iPads and iPods to Smart Boards to big-screen TVs. “What we’ve tried to design is an environment where a teacher can pick the technological tool that works best and run with it,” said Patches Hill, technology systems manager for the Indian River School District.

How can we lower the cost of a college education?
An editorial by The News Journal
Making college affordable for future generations has been on the minds of President Obama and quite a few politicians, including Delaware’s Rep. John Carney. Both spent time this week on the subject – not necessarily unveiling rock-solid plans to end the post-college years mired in debts. They engaged in some necessary public conversations that have been avoided for too long as the cost of a post-secondary education has grown out of reach for middle-class America.

SCSunTimes
Smyrna education centers receive $1.3 million from USDA
The support for early childhood education was evident Aug. 20 at the Smyrna Boys & Girls Club on East Commerce Street when it was announced two education centers were receiving funding from USDA Rural Development. USDA Rural Development Acting State Director Kathy Beisner announced more than $1.3 million in funds to improve the quality of rural education centers in Smyrna.

The Middletown Transcript
Gov. Markell visits Appoquinimink School District
Gov. Jack Markell personally welcomed the students of two Middletown-area schools as they returned for the start of the 2013-2014 school year on Tuesday. The governor spent the morning greeting upper classmen at Middletown High School on their first day back before visiting with students at Cedar Lane Elementary for their second day of the new school year. “I wanted to be here to greet the students, to greet the teachers, and to say I hope you have a great year,” the governor said. “Now it’s time to get down to work and you’ve got such a great opportunity in this district.”

WDDE
Markell future ed goals still taking shape
Even as school begins throughout Delaware, Governor Jack Markell isn’t giving up much about his education agenda for the upcoming legislative session. Earlier this year, Markell and lawmakers streamlined the state’s school choice program by standardizing the application process. Some school districts used to use different deadlines, as well as require different materials from students to process their applications. The General Assembly also stiffened teacher preparation requirements. College-bound students will have to adhere to higher GPA requirements to become an education major.

National News

Education Week
Museums, researchers shifting to online science ed. outreach
From the Smithsonian Institution to a small, do-it-yourself aerodrome in Brooklyn, the nation’s cultural institutions, researchers, and “makers” are using technology to overhaul the way they partner with K-12 teachers and students to deliver science education. Waning are face-to-face outreach and prepackaged curricular content meant to supplement existing classroom lessons. In their place are massive open online trainings, accessible to thousands of educators at the time and place of their choosing; interactive experiences meant to push students from being passive consumers of information to active producers of content and conductors of experiments; and tech-enhanced projects that seek to blur the boundaries between the classroom, the real world, and virtual environments.

PBS NewsHour
How to close the youth ‘skills gap’: South Carolina’s ‘secret sauce’
In South Carolina, educators, employers, and government are working together to close the skills gap and create opportunity for young people on a broader scale. They are accomplishing this through greater attention to high school career and technical education, a first-rate system of state technical colleges, and a well-managed effort to increase the number of apprenticeship positions. The state’s role is through Apprenticeship Carolina.

Boston Globe
Study: Waivers leave behind at-risk students
Millions of at-risk students could fall through the cracks as the Education Department gives states waivers from parts of No Child Left Behind, according to a Campaign for High School Equity study. The resulting patchwork of rule has allowed almost 2,300 schools to shed their label of seriously troubled. And students who are at the highest risk of dropping out are often no longer tracked as carefully as before.

Texas Tribune
Options for full-time online education expand in Texas
The number of full-time cyber schools serving Texas students will double in the upcoming year despite a history of lackluster performance and a new law limiting how many online courses students can take at the state’s expense. The law’s author said he added language limiting the number of online classes students can take to three per year because of concerns that the legislation might lead to more full-time online schools.

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