January 29, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
Lawmakers want expanded special needs service
House Bill 148 would target a major gap in state services by expanding special education services to special needs students in Pre-K through third grade, say lawmakers.

WHYY
Delaware lawmakers seek special education expansion
The proposed expansion would provide basic special education for students grades K through 3, add 130 teachers, and cost around $11 million. The bill’s sponsors say early intervention for special-needs students would save the state money long-term.

National News

Education Week
Credit hours are still useful measures for schools, study concludes
The group that invented the Carnegie unit—also known as the credit hour—more than a hundred years ago announced this week that it had re-examined the measurement’s usefulness and found that, while imperfect, it still serves a vital administrative purpose and has not been a major obstacle to innovation in schools.

Turnover, growing job duties complicate state chiefs’ roles
Changes at the helm of state education agencies reflect a variety of factors, analysts say: a cycle of elections in which voters or governors in several states select new chiefs; opportunities for consulting and other jobs; and, perhaps, new and intensifying pressures on state chiefs.

Tampa Bay Times
Florida education commissioner says testing opt-out isn’t an option
In response to state senators’ questions about the ins and outs of opt-out, education commissioner Pam Stewart wrote that students are required to take the tests and teachers could face disciplinary action if they actively encourage skipping the exams.

Raleigh News Observer
Changes in teacher training proposed for NC
At a daylong summit Tuesday that drew state leaders from all levels of education, seven proposals were unveiled that could alter the way teachers are trained at UNC campuses.

The New York Times
States move to make citizenship exams a classroom aid
This month, Arizona became the first state to pass a law requiring its high school students to pass the citizenship exam, stipulating that they must answer at least 60 of 100 questions correctly to receive a diploma.

Obama relents on proposal to end ‘529’ college savings plans
President Obama, facing angry reprisals from parents and from lawmakers of both parties, will drop his proposal to effectively end the popular college savings accounts known as 529s, but will keep an expanded tuition tax credit at the center of his college access plan, White House officials said Tuesday.

Hechinger Report
Op-ed by Robyn Tedder, facilitator with the Rollins Center
Want to close the achievement gap? Start quality education well before children are 5 years old
What will it take to break the cycle of generational lack of access to quality education and resulting poverty, and improve the lives of so many deserving children?