February 3, 2014
Local News
Delaware Department of Education
$1.5 million grant from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to support Delaware’s early learning data system
Delaware has received a $1.5 million grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to expand its K-12 Education Data Warehouse and Insight Dashboard to include birth through pre-kindergarten data and expand its early learning providers working in this important foundational education area. The grant is the result of a joint effort between Delaware’s Department of Education and the state’s Office of Early Learning.
Cape Gazette
SA students kick off learning expedition with trip to Ripley’s Museum
Seventh-graders at Sussex Academy in Georgetown recently kicked off their Believe It or Not expedition with a visit to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Ocean City, Md. The purpose of the expedition is to teach students how to be critical thinkers about what they see, hear and read.
Cape questions costs of busing homeless students
State officials are working out a deal to lower costs for busing homeless children to school, a plan that could save Cape Henlopen school district some money. The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires school districts to bus students who enroll in the district, but who live beyond district boundaries.
The News Journal
School Safety: Finding funding to lock Delaware classrooms
A House lawmaker said he wants the state to pay the estimated $4 million it will cost to make every door in Delaware’s public and charter schools lock from both sides.
State celebrates three Blue Ribbon schools
Charter School of Wilmington students drummed their feet on the gym bleachers Friday as school leaders brought out an easel covered with a cloth. When school President Samuel Paoli unveiled the plaque underneath, they erupted.
National News
Washington Post
Some states rebrand controversial Common Core education standards
In the face of growing opposition to the Common Core State Standards — a set of K-12 educational guidelines adopted by most of the country — officials in a handful of states are worried that the brand is already tainted. They’re keeping the standards but slapping on fresh names they hope will have greater public appeal.
Inside Higher Ed
For-profit wage gap
Community college students who transfer to for-profit institutions tend to earn less over the next decade than do their peers who transfer to public or private colleges, according to a new study. Overall, the research found that students who transferred to for-profits earned roughly 7% less over the next decade than students who transferred to private or public nonprofit institutions
Education Week
State Chambers of Commerce defend Common Core
Chambers of commerce in a growing number of states are casting themselves in the role of defenders of the common core against increasingly vocal opposition to the new standards from some of their traditional Republican allies.
Snow days turn into e-learning days for some schools
In what is proving to be an uncommonly chilly and snowy winter, thousands of schools across many states have been forced to close their doors—often for days at a time. Although a lot of students have surely tossed their books aside in favor of sledding or video games, some schools are seizing on e-learning as a way to keep up educational momentum.
Common science standards slow to catch on in states
All 26 states that teamed up to help develop the Next Generation Science Standards committed to seriously consider adopting them. But nine months after the K-12 standards were finalized, only eight of those “lead state partners” have formally signed on, including California, Kentucky, and Maryland. (The District of Columbia also has adopted them.)