June 12, 2017

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Shields fifth-graders hold food drive
Gail Drummond’s fifth-grade class at Shields Elementary School listened to a presentation by Chad Robinson, Food Bank of Delaware director of strategic initiatives, and decided to take action. The students were surprised to learn that hunger existed in their area. After research and discussion, the students chose to launch a schoolwide food drive for the Food Bank of Delaware to help families in need during the summer months.

Delaware Public Media
Georgetown Elementary building new playground for all abilities
Georgetown Elementary teachers are joining a construction team to build a new playground at the school Saturday. Georgetown Elementary Assistant Principal Travis Bower said their current playground doesn’t have enough structures for children with disabilities. “We’re trying to make it an all-inclusive playground to the best that we can,” Bower said.

Some Delaware educators ‘fidget’ over new fad, others embrace it
If you’re a parent or a teacher, you are probably very aware of the latest fad – fidget spinners. Haven’t heard of them? Well, they are a small gadget you can spin between two fingers – then try to balance them on one finger or do other tricks. As they spin, you can hear a faint whirring noise. They have grown in popularity at a dizzying rate, catching Delaware schools a bit flat-footed in deciding how to handle them.

Rodel Blog
When kids fall through the cracks, it costs taxpayers double
Blog post by Shyanne Miller, policy associate at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
With a budget deficit nearing half a billion dollars, Delaware needs to invest where it counts. The school-to-prison pipeline—which gets its name from the research-supported pattern that the more times a student faces in-school and out-of-school suspensions, the more likely they are to drop out of school and become incarcerated—is harmful for students and costly for the state.

Sussex County Post
Georgetown Elementary’s all-inclusive playground a reality through community unity
For some participants Saturday in the day-long work bee at Georgetown Elementary School, Advil, Aleve, and Bengay may have been the aching relief choice before bedtime. “Maybe … a heating pad,” said Sara Heinicke, an occupational therapist for the school and Indian River School District who was among the dozens of worker bees.

National News

Duluth News Tribune
Should HS grads be made to take personal-finance courses? Yes: Education overhaul needs emphasis on financial literacy
As Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos sets out to reform America’s underperforming public schools, let’s hope she puts their appalling lack of personal finance instruction near the top of her priority list. Our nation’s high schools are flunking badly when it comes to imbuing their students with the key elements of financial literacy.

Education Dive
Report: ESSA could expand arts opportunities and funding
Part of the challenge states and school districts face in ensuring students have access to a “well-rounded education” is that many of the subjects and disciplines that would make up such an education are often constantly in danger of cuts, most likely because state accountability exams do not focus on proficiency in these subjects.

NPR
How to apply the brain science of resilience to the classroom
Neuroscience isn’t on many elementary school lesson plans. But this spring, a second grade class at Fairmont Neighborhood School in the South Bronx is plunging in. Sarah Wechsler, an instructional coach with wide eyes and a marathoner’s energy, asks the students to think about the development and progress that they’ve made already in their lives.

The Hechinger Report
Light a fuse: How one state’s teachers are sparking digital innovation
Dozens of teachers hovered around a group of students gathered in the center of a beige conference room on a Saturday morning in April. Other teachers sat in rows of chairs, craning their necks to see the action. The students paid no mind. They tapped on computer keyboards. They wrote math problems with magic markers. They plopped on the floor to work on a group project.

The New York Times
Ending the curse of remedial math
Opinion by David L. Kirp, professor of public policy at the University of California
Can you simplify this square root?” Erica Fells asks her class, and hands wave in the air. All but one of the students believe that it’s impossible to do so. The dissenter, Leslie Alcantara, lays out her argument. “What do the rest of you think of Leslie’s reasoning?” Ms. Fells asks, and after some back-and-forth, they agree — she’s correct. These students have been admitted to one of the City University of New York’s community colleges.