December 28, 2015

Delaware

The Beacon
David Paulk: Education in 2015
Education reporter at the Dover Post looks at opting out, school referendum results and curriculum.

Cape Gazette
Millsboro Lions perform eye screening for kindergarteners
One of the most important service projects of the Millsboro Lions Club is eye screening of kindergarten children at the local elementary schools in Millsboro and Long Neck. This year, over 275 children were checked to help ensure they see well enough to learn in school.

Coastal Point
IR staff may be prohibited from sharing rides, social media with students
In a perfect world, every student athlete has parents or friends cheering on the sidelines. In real life, some kids can’t even get a ride home from practice. As a last resort, coaches are permitted to drive students home. But that could be a huge liability if something inappropriate occurs. So, acting under its attorney’s advice, the Indian River School District may tighten up the policy by forbidding staff from driving students.

Dover Post
Educators weigh in on Every Student Succeeds Act
Local educators have expressed mixed feelings about the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act. While they commend the law’s idea of increased freedom, some ask whether state officials will execute a plan that reflects those changes.

News works
A year later, still no money for three Delaware ‘priority’ schools
Three of Delaware’s lowest performing schools have yet to receive more than half a million dollars set aside by the state to help turn them around. Instead, Bancroft Elementary School, Stubbs Elementary School, and Bayard Middle School–all located in Wilmington and all serving majority low-income, African-American populations–are making do in a district strapped for cash. Each is eligible for an additional $175,000 in state funds.

National

The Atlantic
The rise of urban public boarding schools
The founding Monument Academy teachers and staff knew that running a 24-hour school for children who’ve survived trauma and violence would be difficult. They just didn’t know how difficult. The 40 fifth-graders who started in August at this unusual new charter school in northeast Washington include children in foster care or at risk of entering the foster-care system.

The Hechinger Report
Why 2015 was a benchmark year for early childhood education
Opinion by Kris Perry, executive director of the First Five Years Fund
Early childhood education once again emerged as the bipartisan winner in a year marked by deep political polarization. In fact, Congress gave early childhood education more attention this year than almost any other issue — and capped it off by matching good intentions with great funding for programs from birth to preschool and beyond.

The New York Times
New Jersey School District eases pressure on students, baring an ethic divide
This fall, David Aderhold, the superintendent of a high-achieving school district near Princeton, N.J., sent parents an alarming 16-page letter. The school district, he said, was facing a crisis. Its students were overburdened and stressed out, juggling too much work and too many demands. With his letter, Dr. Aderhold inserted West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District into a national discussion about the intense focus on achievement at elite schools, and whether it has gone too far.

NPR
School Testing 2016: Same tests, different stakes
It has been a high-stakes year for high-stakes standardized tests. The debate over renewing the big federal education law turned, in part, on whether annual testing would remain a federal mandate. Republicans initially said no, Democrats said yes. Ultimately the overhaul passed with tests still in place.

Providence Journal
RIDE to expand student access to advanced classes
The Rhode Island Department of Education hopes high school and middle schools take advantage of a new initiative, the Advanced Coursework Network, which hopes to expand student access to advanced classes, from AP courses to career tech offerings. Districts and schools can join the network as providers, who will offer classes to other schools in the network, or as members, whose students will be able to enroll in network courses.