June 10, 2015

Delaware News

Delaware Public Media
Senate committee to consider standardized test opt-out bill
A state Senate committee is set to take up a bill that would let Delaware students to opt out of a controversial standardized test.

WDEL
Delaware Senate education committee to consider opt-out bill
A packed house is expected Wednesday afternoon as a state Senate committee takes up the controversial opt-out bill at Legislative Hall. Dr. Teri Quinn Gray, President of the Delaware State Board of Education is against the opt out bill and plans to testify at Wednesday’s hearing. She said students should take the state’s new Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Education Week
Why ed tech is not transforming how teachers teach
A mountain of evidence indicates that teachers have been painfully slow to transform the ways they teach, despite that massive influx of new technology into their classrooms. The student-centered, hands-on, personalized instruction envisioned by ed-tech proponents remains the exception to the rule. 24-year teaching veteran, Robyn Howton, who has received intensive training in technology integration from a local foundation and a consortium of Delaware school districts that promote personalized learning said “I decided my personal goal was to turn my classroom into a model so other teachers who want to start down this pathway have someone to come and [observe].”

National News

The New York Times
Kindergartens ringing the bell for play inside the classroom
Concerned that kindergarten has become overly academic in recent years, this suburban school district south of Baltimore is introducing a new curriculum in the fall for 5-year-olds. Chief among its features is a most old-fashioned concept: play.

Chalkbeat Tennessee
With a five-day sprint, state panel begins reviewing thousands of Common Core public comments
After more than a year of debate and a six-month public review of the Common Core State Standards, a 42-member committee of educators from across the state set to work, tasked with weeding through 4,000 pages of feedback and drafting a new set of academic standards that are more Tennessee-specific.

Education Week
Inside opt-out: The pushback against testing
Commentary special collection
This Commentary special collection offers a range of perspectives on parents’ opting their children out of tests, from researchers who are studying the phenomenon, to parents who have long embraced testing boycotts, to teachers whose opinions on the subject vary widely.

Survey: Student success calls for more than academic skills
A majority of educators responding to an Education Week Research Center poll said social-emotional learning is an effective way to improve student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and improve school climate. But there are some telling gaps in perception between teachers and administrators.

Education Next
Teacher retention and the economy: An example from Colorado
How high is teacher attrition? How much does it change over time, and why? We don’t have great answers to these questions, but a story and graphic from Chalkbeat Colorado helps provide some tentative answers.