January 7, 2016

Delaware

Delaware Department of Education
State names 45 educators to Common Core – focused Dream Team
Forty-five educators have been named to the Delaware Department of Education’s 2016 Delaware Dream Team. These talented educators were nominated by their districts and charter schools to participate in an intense math and leadership-focused professional learning opportunity that will strengthen the Common Core State Standards in Delaware. This is the third year educators have participated in the Delaware Dream Team led by LearnZillion, a digital curriculum and professional learning provider.

Milford Live
Milford teachers named to Dream Team
Forty-five educators have been named to the Delaware Department of Education’s 2016 Delaware Dream Team. These talented educators were nominated by their districts and charter schools to participate in an intense math and leadership-focused professional learning opportunity that will strengthen the Common Core State Standards in Delaware. This is the third year educators have participated in the Delaware Dream Team led by LearnZillion, a digital curriculum and professional learning provider.

Newark Post
Christina officials lay out plans for another referendum
Christina School District officials are preparing once again to ask voters to authorize a tax increase, less than a year after two failed tax referendums forced the district to cut more than $9 million from its budget. District officials have proposed asking for a 30-cent increase per $100 of assessed property value. With the average assessed property value in the district at $64,000, that amounts to an additional $192 a year or 53 cents a day for the average homeowner, Chief Financial Officer Robert Silber told the Board of Education on Wednesday night.

Sussex Countian
Petite peers: Young mentors in high demand at Howard T. Ennis
You’re never too young to be a mentor. At Howard T. Ennis School, 4-year-olds are mentors for special education students. For Principal Kris Perfetti, there is always a demand for mentors. The program in the Indian River School District, going on its ninth year, helps special education students aged 2 to 4 by pairing them with the 4-year-old model peers.

Sussex County Post
Groundbreaking held for Schell Brothers aquatic center donation at Sussex Academy
By mid-summer 2016, a new state-of-the-art aquatic center should be fully operational at Sussex Academy, courtesy of Schell Brothers. And for Chris Schell, the project has been a lesson in indoor pool science. Barring the unexpected, construction undertaken by Schell Brothers should be completed by mid-summer, possibly July, according to Sussex Academy’s Finance/Operations Director Allen Stafford.

The News Journal
The importance of overriding a veto
Opinion by Yvonne Johnson, vice president for Advocacy for Delaware and Dr. Terri Hodges, Delaware PTA president
It is a parent’s fundamental right to make educational decisions regarding their children’s education. So why would the Governor veto HB 50 when it received overwhelming support not only from the General Assembly, but the community as well? Delaware PTA wants to highlight why an override of the veto is necessary. HB 50 provides a consistent process to allow Delaware parents to opt their child(ren) out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment without fear of punishment or reprisal from district and school administration.

Town Square Delaware
Sundance award-winning film on education to be screened in Wilmington
Mark Twain cautioned students to “Never let school get in the way of your education.” That is still good advice today as 53% of recent college graduates are under- or unemployed. Our current school model was created in 1893 to educate factory workers. With many of us in Delaware spending most of our take home pay on education, are we getting good value for our money and is there a better way to deliver work/life skills to our children?

UDaily
Tech training for teachers
While blackboards and chalk are the traditional symbols of education, today’s teachers must be well versed in technology. They are expected to create lesson plans on SMART Boards, post assignments on learning management systems (LMS), build connections through social media, and conduct assessments and interventions using computer apps. The learning curve can seem daunting. To help pre-K-20 educators develop a better understanding of the alternatives now available, the University of Delaware will host its third annual UD Educational Technology Conference (UDETC).

Lynn Okagaki named deputy provost at UD
Lynn Okagaki has been named deputy provost for academic affairs at the University of Delaware, effective Jan. 16, Provost Domenico Grasso announced today. Okagaki has served as interim deputy provost for academic affairs since July 2015, following the departure of Nancy Brickhouse, who assumed the post as provost and chief academic officer at Saint Louis University in Missouri.

WDEL 101.7 FM
Appoquinimink proposes tax hike to prevent overcrowding
The Appoquinimink School District will seek a referendum at the end of the year due to an influx of students. Parents and students filled Alfred Water Middle School’s auditorium Thursday night for a town-hall style meeting about the proposed tax hike. Appoquinimink Superintendent Matt Burrows said an increase of 600 students this fall has pushed the district’s schools to capacity. He said a referendum would enable the district to build new school buildings to prevent major increases in class sizes.

National

Education Week
2016 education rankings put states nation to the test
As Education Week’s Quality Counts turns 20, the nation has posted a solid C—the same as last year—on the report’s 2016 summative-grading indicator. The report card has evolved through the years, taking on its current, streamlined form in 2015. That form incorporates state and national grades on three indices developed by the Education Week Research Center.

NPR
How to help kids in poverty adjust to the stability of school after break
The first day back from winter break can be restless. Many children are still coming down from the excitement of the holidays. Two unstructured weeks away from school — with strange food, rituals and relatives — can be overwhelming for many children, especially when it grinds to a halt after the New Year and normality resumes. But for students whose families are struggling in poverty, time away from school isn’t an exciting blip on an otherwise calm school year. For them, it can be a crippling time of insecurity when it comes to food and shelter.

The American Prospect
New education law sparks civil rights concerns
The sweeping new federal education law known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has drawn praise from educators and lawmakers who had become increasingly frustrated with No Child Left Behind, the controversial federal education law on the books since 2002. But one group has voiced reservations about the new law: civil rights advocates. Civil rights leaders have praised the law as an improvement over the No Child Left Behind Act, which tied federal funding with school performance.

The Washington Post
Fairfax superintendent proposes teacher raises, class size reductions
Despite warnings that the school system could face devastating program cuts this year, Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Karen Garza laid out an ambitious $2.7 billion spending plan Thursday that leaves the budget intact while adding more than $40 million in teacher raises and including an effort to trim class sizes at elementary schools. The proposal marks a sudden and significant change in the tone of the county’s budget talks, which began months ago with a fixation on cuts, including a controversial suggestion to drop all school sports and activities to save millions of taxpayer dollars.

Times Free Press
First charter schools could open in Alabama in fall 2017
Alabama could see charter schools open in the fall of 2017, as a state oversight panel on Tuesday neared completion of an application template intended to make groups demonstrate they have a sound financial and curriculum plan. The Alabama Public Charter School Commission discussed technical revisions on the charter school application template in the hopes of having it approved within a few weeks. Commission chairman Ed Richardson said that would pave the way for the potential opening of charter schools — publicly funded but operated by private entities — in the fall of 2017.