July 8, 2014

Local News

The News Journal
UD tuition, fees to increase
Students at the University of Delaware will have a heftier bill in the upcoming academic year. In-state students at UD will pay $12,342 in tuition and fees for the 2014-15 school year, an increase of $230. The 1.9 percent growth is the smallest percentage increase in more than 30 years.

The right way to help students with disabilities
An op-ed by Lieutenant Governor Matt Den and State Senator Nicole Poore
People who try to simplify the issue of educating students with disabilities by saying it is just about expectations and assessments do those students no good. High expectations are important, and assessments are necessary. But, providing adequate staffing in our schools, ensuring a high level of professional development for those who work with our kids, and exercising some common sense and discretion when it comes to assessments are even more important.

Supreme Court positions unions for disaster
An op-ed by Noah Feldman, Professor of Constitutional and International Law, Harvard University
Labor unions lost a legal battle as the U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that “partial” public employees can’t be required to contribute to unions to cover the cost of collective bargaining. The unions averted, for now, a far greater disaster: the possibility that the court would reverse its precedent and hold that no public employees at all can be made to contribute to unions’ collective-bargaining costs. That result could’ve broken many public unions. But the sword of Damocles still hangs over them.

Cape Gazette
Common Core has scary implications
An op-ed by Armand Carreau, Bridgeville
The Common Core Data Collection Program will let the government know all that, plus what your children’s skills are, how quickly they learn, what they are capable of, all they can ever be and more. The plan is unprecedented in scope, seeking to collect some 400 data points on each child K-12 and beyond. The authorities will know more about your children than your children will ever know about themselves.

Newsworks
Two Delaware private schools announce merger
Two private schools that each serve students with learning disabilities announced they will merge next month. The board of directors at Centreville School and Layton Preparatory School said the new unified program will now teach children from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Prior to the merger, Centreville was pre-K through 8, while Layton Prep served all high school grades.

National News

Huffington Post
New Obama initiative stresses equal access to good teachers
The Obama administration will announce plans on Monday to enforce a long-ignored federal mandate: a decade-old requirement that states give students of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds equal access to good teachers. The new initiative, called “Excellent Educators for All,” aims to bring states into compliance with a teacher equity mandate in the No Child Left Behind Act, the George W. Bush-era law that requires states to reward and punish schools based on standardized test scores.

StateImpact Indiana
Online teacher communities could ease standards transition
The Indiana Department of Education launched dozens of new online communities to help teachers adjust to the state’s new academic standards. The communities offer teachers the ability to discuss questions, share links, request resources or suggest additional categories for sharing within the group.

ABC News
Schools work to focus incoming college students
Recent studies by Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research found that an estimated 20 percent of graduating seniors from urban school districts in places such as greater Boston, suburban Atlanta, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, abandon their plans to attend college over the summer. Some schools are making efforts to stop this so-called “summer melt.”

Pensions & Investments
Education secretary pushes need for financial literacy
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that seeing so many families without savings or a basic understanding about how to prepare for retirement has him worried about the future. He likened financial literacy education to learning a foreign language in that it’s something that should be taught as early as possible.

WJBF
Governor Nathan Deal: Georgia to invest in early childhood teachers
Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning announced the launch of additional financial support for Georgia’s early childhood educators to enhance their credentials through three new programs.

Politico
Next NEA leader’s first task: win back the public
The new president of the largest teachers union in the country will become the voice of roughly 3 million teachers at perhaps the most critical moment in the National Education Association’s history. First item on the agenda: Win back the public.