June 21, 2017

Delaware News

Department of Education
2018 District/Charter Teachers of the Year named
Twenty Delaware teachers are finalists to be named Delaware’s 2018 Teacher of the Year. Selected from among the 9,000 public school teachers in the state, the candidates were nominated by their districts or the Delaware Charter School Network because of their ability to inspire students with a love of learning, demonstration of professional traits and devotion to teaching.

Newsworks
Protesters of Del. education cuts want bigger income tax increase
A small but determined group of educators, parents and advocates descended Tuesday to the steps of Legislative Hall protest Gov. John Carney’s proposed $37 million in education cuts. The message by about 50 educators, parents, and advocates was simple: cuts will hurt children, make educators jobs far more challenging, and adversely affect Delaware’s future. Their solution: raise income taxes.

Sussex County Post
Indian River district selects budget oversight committee members
Indian River School District has selected 10 community members to serve on the replenished Citizens Budget Oversight Committee. The purpose of the committee is to provide additional transparency and to ensure that stakeholders have input into the district’s budgetary process. A selection committee comprised of district administrators and board of education members reviewed all applications and chose the 10 community members based on their educational and vocational backgrounds.

The News Journal
Educators, community members rally against proposed education cuts
With cuts to education looming, teachers, PTA members, education policy advisers, and politicians staged a protest outside Legislative Hall in Dover over what they deemed an “unsustainable” solution to Delaware’s $400 million budget deficit. The protest drew about 40 people, even though organizers had expected buses full of folks.

UDaily
Successful K-12 investors
This year’s hot stocks are Apple, Tesla and Panera Bread, according to the winners’ portfolios at this semester’s University of Delaware Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE)’s Stock Market Game (SMG). The SMG’s elementary division winners Matthew Hanich and Jesus Zarco-Barriga from Shue-Medill with coach John Markley, for example, grew their initial virtual $100,000 to $108,008.80 with predominately Apple and Tesla stock.

National News

Diverse Education
Chicago mayor: K-12 education model outdated
Arguing that the K-12 education model of the 20th century is outdated, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he believes it’s time to expand the public school system into a pre-kindergarten to college model.

The Hechinger Report
New study reveals cities where low-income students are doing best
When it comes to educating students from urban low-income families, according to a new study, one state leads the pack. And it’s one you might not expect. Texas cities were top performers on a new measure designed to compare how well schools in the nation’s 300 largest cities are teaching their poorest students.

The Times Leader
Committee recommends reducing state testing requirements
Elementary and high school students in Ohio would take fewer tests under new requirements proposed by the state superintendent, but his plan to reduce testing falls short of a special advisory panel’s recommendation. Ohio Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria told the State Board of Education last week that Ohio should eliminate the fourth grade social studies assessment, the high school English language arts 1 end-of-course exam and the high school American government assessment.

The Washington Post
From the battlefield to the classroom: Are veterans a solution to teacher shortage?
In Afghanistan, Clayton Allen was an Army medic at a field hospital in Bagram, treating soldiers who had been maimed or wounded in combat. To unwind, Allen, a violinist, would play classical music from his tent, the tunes at times competing with the sounds of exploding bombs in the distance to fill the night sky. Today, Allen is the orchestra conductor for one of Virginia’s largest student music programs at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Fairfax County.

U.S. News & World Report
Don’t give parents a pass on education
Opinion by Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute
America’s schools are caught in a peculiar vise. We’ve made it clear that we expect schools to succeed with every child. That wasn’t always the norm. Over the past 25 years, though, reformers on the left and right fought to ensure that schools be expected to educate every child. Today, we largely take that mission for granted. That represents a tectonic shift and a tremendous victory.