February 14, 2017

Delaware News

Delaware 105.9
Representative Charles Potter plans to introduce a school prayer bill in Dover
“Before the end of session it’s going to take place,” said Representative Charles Potter promising to introduce legislation to bring prayer back to state schools. Prayer was removed from schools in the early-60’s, but Potter believes bringing it back will help school performance. “I’m going to be working with the preachers and other people,” said Potter.

Delaware Public Media
Language-themed charters come together to collaborate
Before finding its permanent location in a onetime office park, the Odyssey Charter School embarked on a journey befitting its name. In comparison, Academia Antonia Alonso’s move was just a short hop, but its relocation was dramatic – from a plush urban palace to the same suburban setting that Odyssey calls home. It’s a unique situation in Delaware – two schools that emphasize multiculturalism and learning a second language, albeit with different approaches – sharing a campus and finding new ways to interact with each other.

Generation Voice: Investigating the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’
The phrase school-to-prison pipeline is used to explain a growing phenomenon in schools across America. Studies have shown that the more times a student faces in-school and out-of-school suspensions, the more likely they are to drop out of school, become incarcerated and get involved in violent crime – hence the name school-to-prison pipeline. Students of color who get in trouble during school for something as minor as being unprepared for or late to class or violating dress code rules are much more likely to be suspended than their white peers.

Middletown Transcript
Appoquinimink begins building new schools
Ever since the Appoquinimink referendum passed on Dec. 20, the leadership of the school district has been busy, busy, busy trying to get plans into place to complete the new schools as soon as possible. One of the first steps to this process was selecting the architects. On Old State Road southeast of Odessa, the new middle school and high school will be constructed near two existing schools, Spring Meadow Early Childhood Center and Old State Elementary.

Rodel Blog
Close the word gap and build stronger brains with language nutrition
Blog post by Madeleine Bayard, vice president of policy and practice at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Differences in the size of a child’s vocabulary first appear at 18 months—and are correlated with education and income. Dana Suskind, author of the book “Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain,” offers a more comprehensive look at the word gap and what it means for student success. Words and interactions are incredibly valuable to the rapidly developing brain of an infant. They’re so valuable that some early literacy initiatives have begun calling it “language nutrition.”

Third-grade literacy’s enormous impact on life
Blog post by Madeleine Bayard, vice president of policy and practice at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
It’s not just kids, parents, and teachers who feel the impact of our public schools. If you’re a citizen of Delaware, then you are—in one way or another—affected by our state’s education system. Check back regularly as we take a closer look at how When Students Succeed, We All Win. Third-grade literacy has an enormous impact on a child’s life. Research indicates that third grade is a critical turning point for students. A child who can read on grade level by third grade is four times more likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does not read proficiently by that time.

The News Journal
Applications sought for Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship
For the second year in a row, a Delaware-based nonprofit will offer a $10,000 college scholarship to a high school senior who “embodies the virtues” of former state Attorney General Beau Biden. Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, died in 2015 after a battle with brain cancer. His family serves on the selection committee for the scholarship, which is offered by the I Could Do Great Things Foundation.

How both Democrats and Republicans blindsided our best low-income students
Jay Mathews, education columnist and blogger for the Washington Post
Now that the intense media coverage of new U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is over, could we please turn our attention to a little-noticed threat to our most effective high school classes? Congress congratulated itself last year when it passed the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). But its Republican and Democratic sponsors failed to say they were blindsiding teachers and students responsible for a remarkable surge of academic depth in high schools.

UDaily
Training to be tech-smart
Educational technology has created new possibilities as well as increased expectations and challenges for educators. Technology allows educators to enhance their curriculum and better engage their students, but finding ways to integrate technology with instruction can also be daunting for many. The University of Delaware College of Education and Human Development is committed to helping pre-service and in-service teachers keep up with the latest trends in education.

National News

Education Week
Uncertainties as congress takes aim at ESSA regulations
A push by Republicans in Congress to overturn accountability regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act could have far-reaching consequences for how the law works in states, and the potential end of the much-contested rules is dividing the education community. Groups supporting the move argue that it would free schools from unnecessary burdens, while opponents contend that overturning the rules could hurt vulnerable students and create turmoil in states and districts trying to finalize their transition to ESSA, the 2015 law that replaced the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Governing
Universal pre-k is hard to find and harder to fund
You would be forgiven for thinking the building on the north side of San Antonio is a liberal arts college, or maybe a live/work space for artists. The walls are hung with paintings, there are spaces for dancing and there’s a community garden where farm-to-table foods are grown. But in fact it’s the North Education Center, one of San Antonio’s four new full-day pre-kindergarten facilities. The four centers represent a roughly $31 million annual investment by city residents who, in 2012, voted to apportion one-eighth of a cent of the sales tax toward expanding the reach and scope of the state’s existing half-day pre-kindergarten program.

The Hechinger Report
Learning technology once reserved for special needs students is now in everyone’s hands. Can teachers figure out how best to use it?
Math teacher Aaron Kaswell is checking off names he’s written on a whiteboard table in blue dry-erase marker. Around him, the busy classroom hums as 30 students work on laptops, interact with other teachers and chat among themselves. “This is a list of kids I need to check in with, maybe because they’re learning the English language, or because I’ve observed something where they need a little more help,” Kaswell said.

NPR
Beyond sex ed: How to talk to teens about love
Love — or infatuation, at least — is part of school, whether we want it to be or not. It’s often school that gives us our first crush, our first dance-induced cold sweat, and that first bitter taste of heartbreak. And so, on this Valentine’s Day we ask: Should educators and parents be talking about love more with the teens and pre-teens in their lives? Could they do more to help students navigate some of the more bewildering emotions of adolescence? For answers, we turn to Phyllis Fagell.