July 9, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
When to test students and when not to
A commentary by Greg Mazza, former Red Clay Consolidate School District administrator
Testing is an important and integral tool in evaluating student progress, but not the end all be all to indicate student success. You wouldn’t teach multiplication facts before a student understands addition. I believe this is where our educational system begins to fail! All students are held to the same standard….regular education, special education, and English language learner students alike.

WDEL
North Wilmington residents concerned over plans to demolish historic schoolhouse
Plans to demolish Delaware’s first public school for a new retail and housing development project have residents in North Wilmington concerned. The historic Forwood School built in 1799 has been sitting vacant for decades and the new owners of the property said its too damaged to be restored.

National News

Associated Press
NY bullying data called into question
A Long Island prosecutor says compliance with a state law requiring schools to report incidents of bullying, harassment or intimidation is a “disaster,” finding that 58 percent of all schools statewide failed to report even one incident, and 82 percent found no incidents of cyberbullying.

Schools struggle to find home economics teachers
Schools around the country are struggling to find home economics teachers to replace retiring baby boomers.

Inside Higher Ed
Groups reiterate support for standards in K-12
Three higher education groups that have been strong supporters of the Common Core released a joint statement that calls for states to stick to efforts to promote rigorous standards.

Star Tribune
MN data help colleges prepare teachers
The Minneapolis School District is starting to use testing data, student surveys and teacher evaluations to help determine which universities are turning out the best teachers.

Washington Post
TX schools to tread lightly on race issues
Five million public school students in Texas will begin using new social studies textbooks this fall based on state academic standards that barely address racial segregation. The state’s guidelines for teaching American history also do not mention the Ku Klux Klan or Jim Crow laws. And when it comes to the Civil War, children are supposed to learn that the conflict was caused by “sectionalism, states’ rights and slavery” — written deliberately in that order to telegraph slavery’s secondary role in driving the conflict.