February 23, 2016

Delaware

Delaware 105.9
IRSD to offer financial aid workshops
The Indian River School District is partnering with $tand By Me to host two financial aid workshops aimed at helping families understand the financial aid process and secure cash for college. The events will be held tonight (Tuesday), from 6 to 8 p.m. at Sussex Central High School Computer Lab in Georgetown and on Thursday, March 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Indian River High School Computer Lab in Dagsboro.

Milford Live
MSD to offer Spanish immersion program
Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, Milford School District will begin a World Language Immersion program at the kindergarten level as a pilot program, with the intention of continuing and expanding foreign language education throughout the district. The first two classrooms at Morris Early Learning Center will include 50 to 55 students that will be immersed into English and Spanish through their daily instruction including the subjects of English, Math and Science.

Rodel Blog
Cheryl Clendaniel on supporting tiered reimbursement
Guest blog post by Cheryl Clendaniel, early childhood administrator at the Learning Center
Earlier this month, Gov. Jack Markell proposed his annual fiscal state budget–and of the $4.1 billion in total, about $11.3 million was requested to further early childhood education in Delaware. Those funds would go to support, among other things, initiatives like tiered reimbursement, which provides ongoing technical assistance and grants to early learning programs and professionals. Just last week, during the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee hearings, practitioners explained why these funds are so crucial. Here are Cheryl’s comments on the importance of tiered reimbursement.

The Dover Post
Capital hosting public forums to develop strategic plan
Capital School District is looking to the public as it develops a new five-year strategic plan. In the coming weeks, district officials will hold public forums. The announcement was made during the district’s Feb. 17 board meeting. Capital announced Jan. 20 that Newark-based consulting firm Demosophia will help it craft the plan. Company founder and CEO Andrew S. Hegedus told the board of education the public forums are a good starting point.

The Milford Beacon
Kent County schools recognized for academic achievement
Three schools from Kent County were recognized for academic achievement during a ceremony Feb. 19 at Dover Air Force Base. Among the schools were Dover Air Force Base Middle School, with the Caesar Rodney School District, Lake Forest East Elementary School and Lake Forest South Elementary School. Each school receives $8,000.

National

Chicago Sun-Times:
How Chicago teachers union spends its money
The Chicago Teachers Union, having rejected a new teacher’s contract, is in a high-stakes battle with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration. And with more than $25 million a year in dues coming from 28,000 teachers and other school employees, CTU president Karen Lewis and her 77-member staff are a well-funded adversary for the mayor and his schools chief, Forrest Claypool, a Chicago Sun-Times examination of the union’s financial filings shows.

Education Week
Ed. group urges ‘whole child’ approach to counteract poverty
Two K-12 initiatives that are launching this week aim to capitalize on the mounting support for taking a more holistic approach to educating poor children, a shift away from the view that has heavily emphasized that schools alone can counteract the effects of poverty. Expected to be unveiled this week, the first effort is a new project from Harvard University’s Education Redesign Lab that is helping local city and school leaders link agencies responsible for children’s services to work together to address both in-school and out-of-school factors that affect student learning.

NPR
Study in your PJ’s? What a high school ‘work from home day’ looks like
One cold Monday this month, all the students of Park Ridge High School stayed home: wearing their pg.’s, munching on pretzels and Oreos, hanging out on the couch. It wasn’t a snow day or measles epidemic. It was the school’s first Virtual Day, where in-person classes were replaced with written lessons and real-time video chats delivered online. The idea arose because the school, just north of New York City in Park Ridge, N.J., issued every student a Mac laptop last year.

The Hechinger Report
Many who pass state high school graduation tests show up to college unprepared
Looking back on her junior year at Saint Agnes Academic High School in the College Point neighborhood of Queens, Viktoria Mertiri admits that trigonometry “was the death of me. I never understood it.” But Mertiri scored a 70 on the New York Regents Examination, a state standardized test of core high school subjects. It was a pleasant surprise. When she arrived at Queensborough Community College, however, Mertiri did poorly on the entrance tests and was put in remedial classes.

The Kanas City Star
Kansas forges ahead with plan to stop Common Core standards
Kansas lawmakers are making another attempt at repealing Common Core standards, with a measure some say could affect and possibly do away with Advanced Placement classes and International Baccalaureate programs. House Bill 2676 would compel Kansas school districts to develop new standards for reading, math, science and other subjects that would replace the Common Core-inspired Kansas College and Career Ready Standards, which have been in place since 2010.