June 1, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
Reassessment: We have the smarts, not the will
Column by Harry Themal
Every time a school district referendum is defeated, every time county governments look at their tax rolls, as happened again this year, the call goes out for a reassessment, which should logically be done in all of Delaware.

The truth about ‘parent opt out’ and HB 50
Opinion by Dr. Terri Hodges, President of the Delaware PTA; and Yvonne Johnson, PTA VP of Advocacy
The parent opt out movement is in full swing in Delaware. House Bill 50, legislation sponsored by Rep. John Kowalko, provides a consistent process to allow Delaware parents to opt their child(ren) out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment without fear of punishment or reprisal from district and school administration.

Opting out of testing would risk our children’s future
Opinion by Deborah T. Wilson, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League; Maria Matos, President and CEO of the Latin American Community Center; H. Raye Jones Avery, Executive Director of the Christina Cultural Arts Center, Inc.; Jea P. Street, New Castle County Councilman for District 10; and Richard Smith, President of the Delaware State N.A.A.C.P. Conference of Branches
Currently, there is a debate about state testing in Delaware. While we believe that we should reduce the frequency and duration of tests, and advocate for more meaningful use of diagnostic data, we oppose opting out of them. Let’s not opt out of the momentum we’ve built together. As we collectively raise our standards for learning, let’s ensure that every child rises along with them.

Del. students benefit from 1-on-1 attention
While state leaders try to figure out how to make some form of weighted funding work, Communities in Schools has helped young men and women fight through tragedies and obstacles.

Families must be part of the solution
Editorial
Intervention programs cost money. Yet, they will not be enough. We need to employ the most valuable resource most children have, their families. We need to bring the families into the child’s education.

Be Influential: Teach for Delaware – and America – at WilmU
WilmU’s College of Education works in partnership with the Teach for America organization, and is preparing for its fifth year — or fifth cohort — in providing teachers programming advice and field supervision.

Delaware Backstory: Ideas sought for historic school
After standing nearly a century near Seaford, a new fate is to be decided for the former Woodland School House – and that may include a new location. And Sussex County officials want area residents to have their say and share their ideas.

iSchoolGuide
Delaware lawmakers’ budget cut decision to affect education department jobs, governor’s education initiatives
Delaware lawmakers have voted to cut Governor Jack Markell’s $7.5 million education plan to save money. The decision will affect high-paid positions in the Education Department, as well as funding for education efforts like data analysis, teacher preparation programs, and recruitment.

Delaware Public Media
Proposed legislation would mandate school librarians
School librarians could become a mandatory school hire in Delaware should state lawmakers pass a new bill introduced last week.

Cape Gazette
House bill calls for elected Tech board
A bill that would require elections for Sussex Tech school board members has been introduced for a second time in the state legislature.

WDEL
Capital School District’s program targets adult learners with ESL classes
Parents in the Capital School District, whose first language isn’t English, can receive free help so they’re better equipped to help their kids with their schoolwork. Education is like a three-pronged stool, made up of parents, students, and the school, according to Darren Guido, supervisor of instruction in the Capital School District.

Coastal Point
School board honors IRHS engineering success
Indian River High School has shown its technical prowess this year, earning official Project Lead the Way Certification for its pre-engineering pathway. “This is quite an accomplishment, because it is first high school in the state achieving this important milestone,” said Superintendent Susan Bunting at the May 18 meeting of the Indian River School District Board of Education.

National News

CT Post
Committee: Ditch standardized test, give kids SAT instead
The junior year of high school is known for test overload, with many students taking Advanced Placement tests, PSATs and SATs, as well as the state’s new Common Core assessment. A group appointed by the governor wants to reduce that burden on students.

Education Week
Charter sector challenged by quality of school boards
Efforts to professionalize charter school boards and raise the caliber of people who serve on them are catching on.

Study: Teacher outreach to parents has ‘under-explored potential’ in schools
Blog post by Anthony Rebora
In case you were wondering whether your emails and phone calls to parents make a difference, rest assured: A new study by researchers at Harvard and Brown University finds that regular, personalized communications from teachers to parents can in fact have a significant impact on struggling students’ chances for success in their classes. That’s particularly true, the researchers suggest, if teachers’ messages include specifics about what students can do to improve their work.

The Hechinger Report
Why one Common Core test will match the tough national exam known as the Nation’s Report Card, and one won’t
PAARC used NAEP as a major resource to determine benchmarks for college and career readiness in high school. The Smarter Balanced test makers went a different direction and primarily relied on feedback from teachers and college faculty to determine what skills they would expect a student at each grade level to be able to demonstrate.

Quartz
We need to rework American higher education, so Americans can get back to work
We must open more doors to college for Americans from all backgrounds and we must also recognize that a four-year college education is only one of many paths to success in the 21st century.

The New York Times
Op-ed by Frank Bruni
The education assassins
While more thoughtful conservatives like Alexander have sketched out how things might work without an education department, these firebrands are engaged in theater, not real debate. They’re after applause lines, not solutions. And that’s one of my chief gripes with the battle cry to banish the Department of Education. It’s policy by sound bite. There’s too much of that already.