July 7, 2014

Local News

Dover Post
Delaware State University launches Early College High School
Last week, 132 freshman launched their high school and college careers simultaneously at Delaware State University’s Early College High School. Starting Aug. 25, the program will operate as a charter school run out of DSU facilities, and will allow students from across the state to earn between 24 and 60 college credits by taking college courses in addition to their high school classes.

Delaware State News
Website helps Delaware teens with disabilities plan for the future
A first-of-its-kind website, the DelAWARE DisABILITY HUB, was recently launched to help young people with disabilities and their families make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. “This is a huge step forward in supporting the disability community throughout Delaware,” Lt Gov. Matt Denn said.

The News Journal
Biden urges continued fight for equality
Vice President Joe Biden joined the annual Celebration of Freedom ceremony at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Friday, armed with a call for the nation to continue its struggle for equality. Mayor Michael Nutter and others also urged continued efforts to bridge equality gaps that still exist, particularly in education. Biden recalled some of Delaware’s victories, including the state’s contribution to the Supreme Court’s Brown decision, which declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Delaware’s case, Belton vs Gebhart, often has been described as central to the ruling.

Delaware Department of Education
Delaware students bring home top national honors from STEM conference
A press release
Students from across Delaware recently represented the First State as part of the Delaware Technology Student Association at the 36th Annual National Technology Student Association Conference in Washington, DC. The delegation of 151 participants competed in 101 individual and 93 team events that were focused on technology, innovation, design and engineering. At the July 1 awards ceremony, the Delaware high school and middle school students received honors for placing in the Top 10 of several national events.

National News

New York Times
Lawsuit challenges New York’s teacher tenure laws
A lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court on Staten Island argues that the tenure laws violate the State Constitution’s guarantee of a “sound basic education” by making it difficult to fire bad teachers and by protecting the most veteran teachers in the event of layoffs, regardless of their quality. The suit, filed against city and state education officials, names as plaintiffs 11 public school students whose parents belong to a group known as the New York City Parents Union.

Education Week
Common-Core fight pits La. Governor against State Chief, Board
Louisiana’s fight over the Common Core State Standards and the associated assessments, pitting Gov. Bobby Jindal against his state superintendent and state school board, represents a new level of political warfare concerning the standards, even amid heated debate over the common core in numerous states.

E-rate plan for Wi-Fi expansion draws praise, and calls for greater action
Bringing high-speed Wi-Fi to every student and library is at the center of the long-awaited E-rate modernization plan circulated today by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. The proposal drew praise from some observers, but concerns from education organizations about the sustainability of funding beyond the 2016-17 school year.

Waiting until pre-K is too little, too late
Pre-kindergarten is a concept with a large following today. Aside from differing views on how to pay for it, President Barack Obama and many mayors, governors, and members of Congress support this issue with broad feel-good appeal. As our country grapples with growing income disparity between the least and most privileged, it has become clear that, for disadvantaged youngsters, income disparity also leads to academic disparity by the time they reach kindergarten.

KIPP schools named winner of 2014 Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools
KIPP Schools is the winner of this year’s third annual Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools, besting two other well-known charter networks, Achievement First and IDEA Public Schools. The award honors charter systems in urban areas that are improving performance and closing achievement gaps between minority and low-income students and their white or higher-income peers. To the victor, goes $250,000 to spend on college-readiness efforts for its students, such as scholarships and campus visits.

Emerging themes at NEA: ‘toxic testing’ and union threats
The National Education Association’s budget hearing—where we learned about continued declines in membership numbers—already happened, but the Representative Assembly doesn’t officially start until tomorrow morning. We now know the union’s board of directors will propose a New Business Item calling for a campaign against “toxic testing.”