June 25, 2014
Local News
The News Journal
Feds: Del. ‘needs intervention’ on special ed
Delaware is doing such a poor job educating special-needs students that the federal government may need to intervene, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday. Federal officials’ biggest complaint: Delaware is not setting a high bar for those students, letting too many opt out of tests they say provide valuable information about the quality of those students’ education.
Seaford School District names new superintendent
The Seaford School District has selected David Perrington as its next superintendent, the district announced Tuesday. Perrington was most recently the assistant superintendent of the Caesar Rodney School District, where he previously served as director of human resources for 11 years.
Reading never needs a summer break
Research shows that students who don’t make reading a part of their summer routine experience the infamous “summer slide.” They lose some reading and cognitive skills gained during the school year and begin the next school year behind their peers. And the loss is cumulative, which means that students don’t make it up when they return to class; they just fall further behind each year because the other children are moving ahead with their skills.
Dover Post
Capital shelves plan to let students opt out of state testing
The Capital school board voted in a four to one vote Wednesday to table a proposal that sought to allow parents to excuse their children from state testing. Board members Kay Dietz Sass, Brian Lewis, Phillip Martino and Sean Christiansen voted to table the motion, while board president Matthew Lindell voted against tabling it.
WDEL
EdWatch: Celebrating the best idea in Del. charter schools
The Delaware Charter Schools Network celebrates those who make a difference in charter schools. The Delaware Charter Schools Network (DCSN) is seeking to shine the spotlight on innovative programs for their annual IDEA awards.
Delmarva Now
Board of Education votes in new bus plan
The Indian River School District’s Board of Education selected a plan to alleviate stress placed on the bus system due to overcrowding during a special meeting June 16. The plan will create a tiered bus system, allowing drivers to service more than one school while creating equal school times for all students, at six hours and 45 minutes.
National News
Education Week
Getting big on Personalized Learning
To make up for a lack of resources, the Iredell-Statesville school district (North Carolina) has vigorously pursued grant funding from the Obama Administration. In December 2012, the district won $20 million to pursue a personalized-learning initiative—complete with a 1-to-1 program—through the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top district program.
Teacher evaluation changes could cost New York a slice of its Race to the Top grant
New York state could lose nearly $300 million in Race to the Top funds if the state follows through on a proposal to put off incorporating test scores from common-core-aligned exams in teacher evaluation.
Teachers’ union: Moment of truth
California judge has ruled that tenure, seniority rights and other core provisions of the typical teachers’ contract are unconstitutional in the state, because they subvert students’ constitutional right to competent teachers. The teachers will, we presume, appeal. On the other side is a determined and very well funded coalition that sees an opportunity to critically weaken if not completely eviscerate the unions, not just in California, but nationally. In their eyes, the unions may be the single most important obstacle to real education reform.
Mother Jones
We can code it! Why computer literacy is key to winning the 21st century.
Even as the Department of Labor predicts the nation will add 1.2 million new computer-science-related jobs by 2022, the United States is graduating proportionately fewer computer science majors than it did in the 1980s.
Shreveport Times
Louisiana teacher training to continue focus on Common Core
Louisiana’s universities were instructed Monday to continue training teachers to the Common Core education standards even though Gov. Bobby Jindal is trying to derail the standards in public school classrooms. The Board of Regents, which oversees public higher education in the state, issued a memo to teacher preparation deans and others on the campuses directing them to continue training on the Common Core standards.
Washington Post
D.C. public schools will take a hiatus from test-based teacher evaluations with move to Common Core exams
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced Thursday that test scores will not play a part in teacher evaluations next year, a move meant to alleviate anxiety and account for unexpected complications as the city shifts to exams based on the Common Core State Standards. Principals’ evaluations also will not include scores from the new exams next year.