December 15, 2015

Delaware

Cape Gazette
Milton schools to stay same
After years of talking about splitting up the two Milton elementary schools by grade to help balance socioeconomic differences at the schools, Cape Henlopen school board voted 5-2 Dec. 10 to keep them the same and shift students from two neighborhoods to even imbalances. Board member Spencer Brittingham had fought for a K-2, 3-5 grade split between H.O. Brittingham and Milton elementaries. He accepted the decision following the vote.

Harry K Foundation opens another food pantry in Indian River School District
The Harry K Foundation has opened a food pantry at Sussex Central High School. Some 1,200 pounds of food were stocked to Help Harry Halt Hunger in the space provided by the school. The Harry K Foundation has opened 20 total food pantries, including one mobile pantry and one baby center, serving 18 schools.

Newsworks
After Delaware scandal, a conversation with charter school experts
Last Wednesday, the Delaware state auditor released a report detailing “unconscionable” fiscal impropriety at a local charter school. The very next day, in a stroke of cosmic coincidence, the National Education Policy Center released “The Business of Charter Schooling,” a research brief that examines the ways charter leaders and management companies leverage their positions for personal gain. NewsWorks/WHYY interviewed the report’s authors Rutgers University’s Bruce Baker and Western Michigan University’s Gary Miron to get a Delaware spin on their findings and hear more about their recommendations for reforming the charter sector.

Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Delaware students get familiar with the college process
Blog by Haley Qaissaunee, Communications Fellow
The Delaware Goes to College initiative has cracked the code on high school students. The program is woven into the fabric of what every high school student finds most important: their phone! Delaware Goes to College has a texting campaign for Delaware students in grades nine–twelve (parents can participate, too). This statewide texting program is the only one of its kind in the country.

Smyrna-Clayton Sun-Times
Districts cooperate for Winter Harvest Festival
Families in need enjoyed a dose of the holiday season at the Dec. 12 Winter Harvest Festival. Hosted by Lake Forest High School this year, it is a collaborative effort between Lake Forest, Capital, and Smyrna school districts. There was face painting, games, food, music and gifts.

The News Journal
The importance of a citizen voice in education reform
Opinion by Tizzy Lockman and Kenny Rivera, Vice Chairs of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission
In Delaware, we are passionate about education.  We understand the powerful link between education and a strong community, our economy, and continued advancements in the 21st century.  Some of us are even more aware of what a weak education system means for public safety and quality of life.   But for all of our passion, and despite the efforts of devoted educators and dedicated parents, our system has struggled, and generally fails, to meet the needs of those students who have the most at stake in its success.

WDEL
Parents, community speak up at final WEIC education public hearing
For many, it was one final chance for their voice to be heard. WEIC Chair Tony Allen and Policy Director Dan Rich explained the process of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission’s plan and took questions before the start of the final public hearing on education Monday night. Close to 20 people signed up to offer their thoughts on the plan in the Wilmington City Council Chambers.

National

EdSource
Preschool programs face challenge of preparing staff to teach English learners
About half of the children in the two largest public preschool programs in California – Head Start and the California State Preschool Program – speak a language other than English at home, but there is a good chance they will not be in classrooms with teachers and teacher assistants who are bilingual or trained specifically in instructing English learners. This reality has broad implications for the ability of California’s public education system to promote successful outcomes for students who are learning English. Two-thirds of English learners did not meet the standards on the Smarter Balanced tests aligned with the Common Core standards, which were administered last spring for the first time.

Inside Higher Ed
Doing it right: Experts weigh in on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
So you’ve decided you want to change the world and put your tremendous fortune toward the lofty goals of “advancing human potential and promoting equality.” Now comes the hard part. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month celebrated the birth of his daughter by announcing the creation of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic limited liability company. The initiative will over the next several decades invest 99 percent of the Facebook shares owned by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan — today worth about $45 billion — in organizations with similar goals.

Newsworks
Pa. Senate passes bill calling for dramatic interventions at bottom performing schools
In a bipartisan 42-9 vote, the Pennsylvania Senate approved a school code bill Thursday evening that would require the state to take drastic intervention at five “persistently low achieving” schools per year. The “opportunity schools” legislation says the state secretary of education will have discretion to choose the five schools from a list of chronic low performers as measured by the state’s school performance profile index. Only a “school district of the first class” would be affected: namely, Philadelphia.

University Business
ACT launches multi-year dual enrollment initiative
To ensure that all students have the opportunity to earn college credit in high school, ACT is launching a multi-year effort to support policymakers and education leaders in their work to increase the number of eligible high school students in dual enrollment programs across the country. Dual enrollment programs are at a critical juncture in their growth, with more federal funding available to support these programs in the newly passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaces No Child Left Behind.

Wall Street Journal
New education bill to get more coding in classrooms
The sweeping bipartisan education bill signed into law on Thursday, the Every Student Succeeds Act, contained a nugget of good news for the tech industry: computer science has been recognized as important an academic subject as math and English, potentially introducing it into more classrooms across the U.S.