September 24, 2012

Local News

The News Journal
Setting kids on the right road
The Nemours program BrightStart screens children to gauge their reading skills before they start school. Nemours is working in Delaware and other states to develop skills that last as a child progresses into elementary school. A BrightStart van travels to places where there are children, such as museums, parks and housing developments.

Rules necessary for charter schools
An editorial
For all of the critics of charter schools in Delaware – and trust us – there are many, Delaware’s new framework for policing their academic and operational standards is the most reasonable approach to hold them accountable to their obligations. This makes it easier for parents, who are opting out of costly private school tuition or anxious about their child’s under-whelming test scores in traditional secondary schools, to make informed choices about charters. This is the much-needed path that Delaware’s new Secretary of Education Mark Murphy frames as providing “the clarity the schools need to constantly improve.” And we add, be a valuable example for their traditional partners in public education.

National News

Education Week
Who got stimulus dollars? High-need districts, high-performing states  
The 2009 federal economic-stimulus package also launched the bulk of President Obama’s education agenda, including Race to the Top. A new federal report finds these competitive grants funneled stimulus money to states that had both big budget gaps and top-flight students. By contrast, states with higher child-poverty rates didn’t get much of an edge in the stimulus.

Black-male grad rate still lags despite slight uptick  
The four-year graduation rate for black males has steadily improved over the last decade but remains dismally low compared to the rate for their white male peers, according to an annual study. The graduation rates for African-American males was 52% in 2009-10, compared to 78% for white, non-Hispanic males and 58% for Latino males. 

Phase two of Race to Top Early Learning Challenge kicks off  
The Department of Education has released the application for the states that are eligible for funding in round two of the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. The five states—Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin—that scored well in round one but not high enough to make it to the winner’s circle, will be vying for the fresh batch of grants.

Connecticut Mirror
Panel looks to tackle skyrocketing special education costs  
A Connecticut panel is considering recommending wealthy districts and high-income parents with special needs children pay more to cover the skyrocketing price of special education. More than 60,000 students receive special education, and nearly $1 of every $4 spent on education goes to those services. In the past decade, while general education costs increased 40%, spending for special education increased by 65%.

Related Topics: Achievement Gap, funding equity, special education