August 9, 2012

Local News

DFM News
Teachers prepare to launch Delaware’s language immersion program
About a dozen teachers, most of them from China and Spain, are receiving intensive training this week as they prepare for their assignments in a new Delaware education initiative — dual-language immersion programs for kindergarten and first-grade students at three elementary schools. The program’s goals, Markell said, are to give students sufficient proficiency that, by fourth grade, “they can take their families to other countries and be able to navigate” and, by ninth grade, they are able to pass an Advanced Placement exam in their language.

National News

Newark Star-Ledger
Gov. Christie hails signing of tenure reform bill as ‘a great day for good teachers’
Under S.B. 1455 signed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, teachers will have to wait at least four years instead of three—and they will have to earn consistently good grades—to gain tenure. They can face firing if they repeatedly receive poor evaluations. New Jersey will be one of only 11 states with a last-in, first-out seniority policy for teachers in the event of layoffs.

Education Week
The south leads in job growth, but low-skill work dominates  
The South is about a decade behind the rest of the country in the kinds of high-skill, high-wage jobs that require education beyond high school, which, despite relatively strong job growth in the region, could keep it stuck in an economic rut, according to a study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

GAO: Transition for students with disabilities can, must improve  
Although a number of federal government programs and services are intended to help students with disabilities after they leave high school, those programs aren’t coordinated well, making them difficult for students and their families to navigate, a report from the Government Accountability Office says.

Santa Fe New Mexican
Martinez says D and F schools eligible for turnaround program  
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez announced that struggling schools that received a D or an F grade under the state’s new grading system will have a chance to participate in a program known for dramatically improving math and reading scores. The governor said the program and $3.5 million in state funding will help the underperforming schools with leadership training and professional development.

Related Topics: global competitiveness, special education, teacher pathways, teacher retention