December 13, 2013
Local News
Delaware Department of Education
State names 34 teachers to Dream Team
Thirty-four teachers from across the state will join the Delaware Dream Team, helping to develop high-quality Common Core formative assessment items that will be shared with teachers throughout Delaware. Members will collaborate in small groups with fellow teachers and Common Core coaches from across the country to create resources, receive feedback and learn together. They will share their professional development experience with colleagues to further broaden their impact.
The News Journal
Jobs forum panelists call for revolutionizing Delaware’s workforce
Delaware must provide more responsive education and vocational training, and deeper workforce development collaboration between employers and schools to rise fully out of the Great Recession, panelists discussing the state’s job picture said Thursday. “It’s really the most relevant conversation we can have right now,” Teri Quinn Gray, state Board of Education president, said in an interview before the program began. “This economy is scary.”
New Delaware building looks to brighten future for troubled youths
The Residential Cottages at the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Families unveiled a new $5 million building on Thursday. The new Juvenile Education Multi-Purpose building, located on DSCYF’s campus outside of Wilmington, has state-of-the art teaching technology, like electronic white boards, ample classroom space, and rooms for books, art and computers. Most importantly, it looks and feels like any other school.
WDDE
Task force looks at moving Delaware school start after Labor Day
Whether or not Delaware should push the start of its school year back after Labor Day is the issue a new task force started examining Thursday. The General Assembly formed the task force to weigh the merits of making that change, which proponents say would allow high-school aged workers to more easily work at tourist-friendly beach businesses over the busy Labor Day weekend.
National News
Education Week
Raising compulsory attendance age needs further study, report says
Eleven states raised their compulsory school attendance ages between 2002-11 in hopes of reducing dropout and discipline rates, but none of them followed through with studies to determine if the policies were actually effective, a new study says. The report suggests the attendance policies should be aligned with other retention and drop-out prevention strategies
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Missouri proposal to change early childhood teacher certification faces criticism
Early childhood education proponents in Missouri say a proposal to change teaching certification standards may hurt kindergartners and repel new teachers from pursuing careers with younger students. The state board plans to pursue a certification for new teachers working with students from birth through pre-kindergarten. The other would cover kindergarten through grade 6.
Northwest Indiana Times
Pence looks to expand education overhaul
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence announced an expansive education plan that will seek approval for vouchers for preschool-aged children, extend more state help for charter schools, and pay for teachers to work in low-income districts. The proposal also includes technical training and career preparation building from the work of a series of workforce development committees.
New York Times
Schools use web tools, and data is seen at risk
Public schools around the country are adopting web-based services that collect and analyze personal details about students without adequately safeguarding the information from potential misuse by service providers, according to new research. A study, which is expected to be released on Friday, by the Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham Law School in New York, found weaknesses in the protection of student information in the contracts that school districts sign when outsourcing web-based tasks to service companies.