July 12, 2017

Delaware News

Delaware Public Media
Delaware Goes to College Academy offers free college prep help to low-income students
A new partnership between the state Department of Education, TeenSHARP and Capital One aims to help 600 low-income First State students apply to – and succeed in – college. 14-year-old Baraka Osborne has big – and specific – dreams to: “become a really famous optometrist that leaves a mark on optometry.” But in order to get there, some mentoring was in order.

Delmarva Public Radio
Education budget cuts hit school district in Delaware
The $26 million budget cut for public education in Delaware has sent local districts scrambling to see what they can do with less money. WBOC reports that the Capital School District took a $1.4 million hit but expects to avoid layoffs even as it balances its budget. But the President of the Education Board Sean Christiansen told the television station that the cuts could force the district to authorize a referendum – the first in 13 years.

Rodel Blog
Budget woes dominate legislative session
Blog post by Melissa Hopkins
The Delaware General Assembly ended its session this year on an interesting quirk and plenty of frustration. After going past the June 30 budget deadline for the first time in decades, the legislative session officially concluded in the early morning hours of July 2, after a required extended time window, and a contentious budget negotiation.

The News Journal
Brandywine administrator to run Wilmington-based DOE office
Gov. John Carney announced Tuesday that Dorrell Green – currently assistant superintendent for the Brandywine School District – will lead a new Wilmington-based Department of Education office. It will be known as the Office of Improvement & Innovation. Green, who has also been a teacher at the Christina School District, starts Aug. 1.

Southern Delaware arts school looking for students
Southern Delaware School of the Arts in Selbyville has several openings for students in grade 8 for the 2017-2018 school year. Parents interested in enrolling their middle school children must submit a Delaware Standard Application for Educational Options, an IRSD Student Supplemental Information Form and a “Good Cause” form.

Scholarships for students from manufactured homes
The First State Manufactured Housing Association recently awarded $4,000 in scholarships to four students, each of whom lives in a manufactured home in Delaware. Caesar Rodney High School 2017 honors graduate Brianna Boyd resides in a manufactured home in Pinewood Acres in Dover.

National News

Education Week
What makes a teacher of the year run for political office?
Teachers across the state of Arizona have confided in Christine Porter Marsh, the state’s 2016 teacher of the year, about how frustrated they are—how they have to work a second or third job to survive on their teacher salary; how they have unmanageably large class sizes; how they often have to make the “gut-wrenching decision” to leave teaching because of the state’s education policies. So, Marsh, a high school teacher with 25 years of experience, decided to run for political office.

Personalized learning: Modest gains, big challenges, RAND study finds
There’s new evidence to suggest that customizing instruction for every student can generate modest gains in math and reading scores, according to a report released today by the RAND Corp. Despite the promising signs, though, the researchers behind the most comprehensive ongoing study to date of personalized learning describe their latest findings as a “cautionary tale” about a trend whose popularity—and backing from philanthropists, venture capitalists, and the ed-tech industry—far outpaces its evidence base.

New America
From frenzied to focused: How school staffing models can support principals as instructional leaders
With the rise of new academic standards, more rigorous educator evaluation and support systems, and a growing population of students who need additional supports, expectations for public school teachers are rising and, in turn, so are expectations for school leaders. Principals are increasingly expected to focus on “instructional leadership” by engaging more deeply in areas related to curriculum and instruction, including assessing and developing teacher practice.

The Hechinger Report
Learning is social and emotional; our classrooms should be too
Column by Dr. Andre Perry, former founding dean of urban education at Davenport University
My stepson’s inability to read because of a disability didn’t lessen my expectation that his school teach him. Anyone with a child who has an intellectual or learning disability knows that learning entails much more than knowing how to read, write, and compute. The absence of literacy doesn’t mean that he can’t learn skills essential to becoming a productive member of society.

WVTM 13
8 Alabama schools chosen for new early learning program
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey today announced that eight schools in five state school systems will lead a new effort to improve student success by “aligning effective teaching strategies and improving collaboration among educators in early elementary school grades.” Each school will receive a $15,000 grant to purchase classroom materials and improve early learning experiences.