December 1, 2015

Delaware News

Dover Post
Students use clean energy theme for national contest
Dover-area students have honed their green energy skills by entering a national competition. Teams from Polytech High School and Caesar Rodney High School recently submitted entries to the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, a competition that tests student skills in science and technology. The state finalist, to be announced in December, will then compete for the national title.

Capital prepares for new and improved Booker T. Washington Elementary
Students at Booker T. Washington Elementary School will soon be using a section of the school that hasn’t been used in 12 years. On Dec. 18, the renovations and additions that started last year will be complete, according to Capital School District Superintendent Dan Shelton. The renovated area has an additional 14 classrooms, administrative offices, physical and occupational therapy rooms and physical education rooms.

Middletown Transcript
Twenty-five Appoquinimink School District students visit Japan
Twenty-five high school students from the Appoquinimink School District had the chance to visit Japan and learn about its history and culture last month. The eight-day trip was sponsored and funded by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of its Kakehashi Project, a program which promotes mutual understanding between Japanese and other cultures, as well the study of the Japanese language in countries throughout the world.

The News Journal
The injustices against Delaware’s black community must end
Opinion by Mary Batten, a graduating senior at Delaware State University
It is especially shameful when you consider how much is spent on the so-called “correctional system” in our state. We spend more on prisons than we do on higher education. If we spent more on education with more programs promoting positive outcomes for kids, showing them that there is something more than going to jail and getting into trouble with the police, things would be better.

National News

Cleveland.com
Online schools are losing support, creating divisions in the national charter school movement
Poor test results at online schools are creating divisions in the charter school community in Ohio and nationally, leading some national leaders to question whether e-schools should even be part of the charter school movement anymore.

The New York Times
Algebra scores prompt second look at revamped regents exams
Here is the thorny math problem facing New York State education officials: If the percentage of students passing the Algebra I exam falls to 63 percent from 72 percent, and the passing grade is scheduled to increase by 14 points in coming years, should the test be made easier. In 2013, concerned that high school graduates were not prepared for college, the State Board of Regents revamped the exams students must pass to graduate, starting with the English and Algebra I tests.

The Hechinger Report
How technology helped deliver a taste of victory to a struggling Newark School
Opinion by Jackie Pugh
Quitman Street is one of the schools that has used our blended learning models to help improve results. Our journey to personalized learning at Quitman Street Renew School began during the 2013-2014 school year. Because over 80 percent of their third and fourth graders were struggling readers, Principal Erskine Glover and other leaders at Quitman knew they needed to focus on early literacy skills, reading comprehension, and citing textual evidence. The plan was to use new instructional models to get better results.

Governing
A homework assignment for the people running public universities
The sharp decline in state funding for higher education in recent years may have brought tuition increases and rising student debt, but it also has been accompanied by a reexamination of what the role of our publicly funded colleges and universities should be. Not everybody is happy about that, but this is a conversation we need to have.

NPR
The outgoing education secretary reunites with a former Student
As he prepares to leave office this month, Education Secretary Arne Duncan reunited with a former student as part of a StoryCorps interview project. More than 25 years ago — when he was working at the Chicago Public Schools — Duncan took part in a mentorship program run by the “I Have A Dream” Foundation at Shakespeare Elementary School in Chicago. And Lawanda Duncan (no relation) was one of the young students he mentored.

The Washington Post
Why many high-stakes testing foes see ‘modest’ progress in No Child Left Behind rewrite
Blog post by Valerie Strauss
Now that U.S. lawmakers have unveiled final draft legislation rewriting the No Child Left Behind education law and are expected to vote on it soon, the question is how much will really change for public schools if it becomes law. The bill, titled the Every Student Succeeds Act, calls for a substantial shift of authority over education policy from the federal Education Department to states and districts, and explicitly limits the role the U.S. education secretary can play in local education decisions.

Education Week
Districts struggle to judge Ed-Tech pilot projects
Many school leaders see pilot tests of educational technology products as important opportunities to try out digital tools before their districts leap ahead with costly purchases. But a new study suggests that school officials and tech developers often fail to set clear standards for judging the success of those trial runs, and that there isn’t an effective process for gathering feedback from teachers and students.

Brookings
Districts steer disproportionate funds to a small segment of the teaching force
Blog post by Marguerite Roza, Director of the Edunomics Lab and Research Professor at Georgetown University
By most accounts, teachers aren’t paid enough. On an annual basis, teacher salaries lag those of other professions. Paltry earnings are often linked to high teacher turnover or insufficient quality in the workforce. But teacher wages differ from other professions in another key way: in the steepness of the salary curve over a career. Teaching, like many fields, rewards experience. But what’s unlike other professions is the degree to which pay is linked to seniority and how much it affects earnings toward the end of teachers’ career.