July 6, 2017

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Cape district helping out with before- and after-school care
With start time changes this fall for Cape Henlopen School District schools, the district is helping out employees with before- and after-school care. “There were concerns about before- and after-school care and how that would impact our employees,” said Superintendent Robert Fulton. “I wanted to meet the needs of as many people as possible.”

Delaware Public Media
School discipline bill to make appearance in next year’s legislative session
A bill aiming to transform how Delaware schools approach school discipline didn’t reach the finish line this legislative session. But Senator Margaret Rose Henry says it will be back next year. State Senator Margaret Rose Henry says schools too often rely on harsh school disciplinary measures – especially when it comes to minority students and students with disabilities, and even when addressing minor issues, like being late to class. And she says it isn’t a new problem.

To meet growing enrollment, Indian River District needs more bus drivers
School district officials say enrollment is increasing, which means more buses and drivers are needed to get students from home to the classroom and back. At the Indian River School District, there’s an ongoing effort to meet that need. The Indian River District has 160 buses, which means they need 160 drivers to steer the wheels. But transportation systems analyst Tyler Bryan reports they’re about 15 drivers short.

Education Week
Data shows Delaware students far more diverse than students
New data from the Delaware Department of Education show that while the state’s public school students are becoming increasingly diverse, the same is not true of its teachers. The News Journal reports teacher and school leader workforce diversity has remained largely stagnant despite efforts to recruit and retain more minority teachers.

Newsworks
The Tornoe Spin: Delaware finally has a budget. Now let’s consolidate the schools
After much hand wring and an unwillingness by Republicans (and one Democrat) to even consider changing our out-of-date income tax code (more on this later), Delaware lawmakers finally agreed on a budget for the next fiscal year. Don’t applaud, it’s their job. Unfortunately, because of the backwards way they came up with new revenue to balance the budget, it’s likely we’ll all be right back at it around this time next year.

Smyrna-Clayton Sun-Times
Rotary Club helps fourth grade classes visit state parks
Each year the Smyrna-Clayton Rotary Club does a service project that benefits students in the community. This year the Rotary District 7630 approved a grant funded through The Rotary Foundation that sent three Smyrna School District fourth grade elementary classes to a different state park. The purpose was to provide an outdoor environmental education experience for the students and the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of Delaware’s natural resources.

National News

AL.com
Alabama teachers talk about the gap between white and black students
Classroom teachers have a front-row seat in the efforts to educate Alabama’s children, so AL.com decided to ask them about the difficulties behind the achievement gap and what the state could do to close the divide. Chances are good that you’ve heard of the achievement gap. It’s the long-running difference in average test scores between groups of children of different races and ethnicities.

EdSource
Transitional kindergarten boosts school readiness in math, reading
California students who attended transitional kindergarten were more engaged in the learning process and better prepared for math and reading when they entered kindergarten than children who did not, according to a new study by the American Institutes for Research. The study, released Wednesday, compared the skill levels of kindergartners who had attended transitional kindergarten with those who had attended preschool or had not been in formal preschool the year prior.

The 74 Million
Boser and Baffour: Making school integration work for the 21st century
Countless studies show that segregation by income is growing worse in public schools, but the national response to this trend has been disappointing. The Trump administration recently ended the Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities program, a federal initiative that would have supported local school efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity.

The Atlantic
​​​​​​​The diminishing role of art in children’s lives
“Ik ben ik”—I am me—was the classroom theme when my son started preschool in the Netherlands two years ago. He painted a portrait of himself, with exaggerated teeth only on the bottom row and three strands of wiry hair on his head (“hair is hard,” he later told me). He went on to depict his home life: our canal-side house more wavy than erect; his father and I standing beside a cat we do not own; and his baby sister next to him while his other sister—his nemesis at the time—was completely absent.

U.S. News & World Report
Teachers union adopts new, anti-charter school policy
The 3-million member National Education Association is taking a new tack when it comes to charter schools, adopting a policy statement Tuesday aimed at limiting charter school growth and increasing accountability on the sector. NEA officials hailed the decision as a “fundamental shift” in the union’s stance on charter schools.