January 30, 2015
Delaware News
The News Journal
Delaware budget: Millions in senior tax breaks cut
The governor budgeted $9.5 million for education programs, including programs for English language learners, school safety, resources for extended day schools and after-school programs in high-need schools, and money to recruit and support teachers, among other programs.
WDDE
State legislators react to Wilmington Educational Advisory Group’s recommendations
The House and State Education Committees were briefed Wednesday on the advisory group’s interim report released to Gov. Jack Markell (D-Delaware).
Sussex County Post
IRSD hosting mentor training sessions
Indian River School District and Creative Mentoring will be hosting several training sessions for any adult interested in becoming a volunteer mentor.
Eastday
Chinese language education grows in Delaware
In the Chinese program of the Delaware World Language Immersion Programs, a native Chinese teacher will teach science, math and Chinese literacy while an English-speaking teacher will handle English, language arts, social studies and “bridge lessons” to make sure the students are picking up the concepts covered in Chinese.
National News
Education Week
Study suggests using poverty as a factor in teacher evaluation
A blog post by Jordan Moeny
A forthcoming study by University of Missouri researchers finds that accounting for factors like poverty when comparing schools could lead to a more “effective and equitable” teacher-evaluation system.
Differentiation does, in fact, work
Commentary by Carol Ann Tomlinson, professor and chair of educational leadership, foundations, and policy at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education
It will not surprise educators who know my work to learn that my experiences and beliefs regarding academic diversity in classrooms differ from those of James R. Delisle, who recently made the case in an Education Week Commentary that differentiated instruction can’t work in today’s classrooms.
The National Journal
Common Core a huge hurdle to education deal
As they try to reach compromise on a rewrite of the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, the last thing negotiators need is the encroachment of a tangential yet inflammatory issue that worries a sizable chunk of the populace. But that is exactly what the Common Core State Standards have become.
The New York Times
More special-needs students remain at charter schools, report finds
In the continuing battle over the growth of charter schools, critics often say that many New York charter schools push out students with special needs. But the city’s Independent Budget Office on Thursday released a report says children with disabilities stayed at charter schools at a slightly higher rate than they did at traditional public schools.
Wisconsin State Journal
DPI exploring the idea of new tests in response to concerns
Wisconsin’s use of a student test linked to the controversial Common Core State Standards has come under further question in the wake of a report on increased costs and progress on legislation revamping the school-accountability system.
Indiana Chalkbeat
Statehouse labor battle renewed as teachers unions cry foul
The battle over teachers unions in Indiana might be on again. A bill heard in a Senate committee would challenge unions’ very right to represent teachers in a school district at the negotiating table with the school board.
Associated Press
State board votes to take over Little Rock School District
The Arkansas Board of Education voted Wednesday to take control of Little Rock schools less than six months after a federal judge granted more independence to the historically embattled district and ended a quarter-century of payments to boost integration.