January 31, 2017

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Plans for new Sussex Consortium OK’d
Plans for a new Sussex Consortium were approved Jan. 12, but officials say the building could grow if state funding is approved. “We’re going to keep working to make sure we get as much funding as possible,” said Robert Fulton, superintendent of Cape Henlopen School District.

Delaware 105.9
School shootings rise when economy struggles, study suggests
A new study finds that school shootings rise when the economy tanks, even as violent crime in general appears to be unaffected. Researchers analyzed data from more than 370 shootings in schools between 1990 and 2013 and found a link between changes in national and local unemployment rates and the frequency of shootings.

Sussex County Post
Civic duty: Exploratory elective ‘cops’ sixth graders’ attention
An exploratory elective at Georgetown Middle School is certainly “copping” student attention. The United States Constitution, The Bill of Rights, current events and America’s judicial and law enforcement systems are among conversation and quiz topics in a sixth-grade Civics class taught by Georgetown Police Det. Joey Melvin, the School Resource Officer.

The News Journal
DSEA president election ends in tie
It remains unclear who will lead the state’s largest education union for the next three years after what appears to be an unprecedented two-way tie. The results of the race for the union presidency were quietly announced to Delaware State Education Association members Friday. DSEA confirmed the tie Monday, issuing a short statement on the results.

Post CDC report, officials suggest more youth support
Wilmington youth need improved recreation, education, employment and mental health services if they’re going to avoid becoming victims and perpetrators of gun violence as adults. That’s according to a community advisory council formed in the aftermath of a historic federal study of Wilmington’s epidemic of violence and created to develop strategies to intervene in the lives of those displaying warning signs.

UDaily
Applying education leadership skills
In education leadership programs across the country, doctor of education (Ed.D.) candidates are tasked with identifying a significant educational problem or challenge facing the organization in which they work. They then propose and test strategies to address the issue as part of their capstone requirement. Although the literature is rich with examples, there are few empirical studies that examine this capstone approach.

National News

Chalkbeat
Denver Public Schools already provides more money to educate low-income students, but it wants to do more
Denver Public Schools is preparing to change the way it doles out funding for low-income students, upping the amount it provides schools to educate the district’s highest-needs students. They include children who are homeless, in the foster care system and whose families receive food stamps. Such students automatically qualify for free school lunches, which is why they’re referred to as “direct-certified” students.

Education Week
From teacher to principal: A look at the typical pathway
The career path to the principalship has been a fairly rigid one. Only in the past decade or so has the field seen some important changes in who makes it to a school’s top job—and how.

What are school vouchers and how do they work?
Few topics stir up as much debate in the education sphere as steering public money in the form of vouchers to pay for students to attend private school. Especially now that one of the nation’s most visible supporters of school vouchers—Betsy DeVos—is President Donald Trump’s nominee to become U.S. Secretary of Education.

The Hechinger Report
Most colleges enroll many students who aren’t prepared for higher education
The vast majority of public two- and four-year colleges report enrolling students – more than half a million of them–who are not ready for college-level work, a Hechinger Report investigation of 44 states has found. The numbers reveal a glaring gap in the nation’s education system: A high school diploma, no matter how recently earned, doesn’t guarantee that students are prepared for college courses.

The Washington Post
New policy aims to help D.C. students enroll in charter schools near their homes
Thousands of D.C. children who live near public elementary charter schools could soon qualify for a new admission preference to help them enroll in those schools under a plan Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced Monday. Under the city’s current policy, students have a guaranteed seat in a traditional public school near their home. But those assigned neighborhood schools — all part of the D.C. Public Schools — are sometimes more than a half mile away.