June 26, 2015
Delaware News
The News Journal
Lawmakers OK letting students skip standardized testing
After some of the fiercest fights of this session and bouncing back and forth between the houses of the General Assembly, it took the state Senate all of five minutes Thursday to approve a controversial bill that would allow parents to pull their kids out of the state standardized test.
Newsworks
Delaware passes legislation allowing students to opt out of assessment tests
Delaware passed legislation Thursday that allows the parent or guardian of a child to opt out of state-mandated exams in schools. The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Kowalko, D-Newark, and Sen. David Lawson, R-Marydel, passed in the Senate 15-6 weeks after several amendments sent the measure back and forth between the Senate and the House.
Delaware Public Media
Opt-out bill passes Senate, heads to Gov. Markell
After weeks of ping ponging back and forth between the Delaware House and Senate, a bill allowing parents to opt their children out of any state or district mandate school test is headed to the governor’s desk.
Dover Post
Volunteer program keeps students on track over the summer
Karen Hutchins, a member of Frontline Ministries Church, is starting a program called “The Next Generation of Leaders.” The purpose is to provide educational stimulation for elementary school students during the summer break. She saw the opportunity to help out while she was mentoring at schools in the area and found certain gaps in the education that she thought needed to be addressed.
National News
Inside Higher Ed
Ratings without…rating
A U.S. Department of Education accountability system planned for release this summer will not compare colleges or assign scores, but will instead be a data-rich, consumer-facing tool on access, affordability and performance.
Education Week
Digital needs fuel Common-Core curricular choices
There was a new face at the table this school year as the Meriden public schools set out to evaluate digital curricula aligned to the Common Core State Standards. In addition to supervisors for subjects like English and mathematics, the district created a new position to provide input: supervisor of blended learning.
Brookings Institute
Free college is not enough: The unavoidable limits of the Kalamazoo Promise
Blog post by Timothy Ready, Director of the Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations, Western Michigan University
Free college tuition is certainly a key component of any effort to reduce inequality of opportunity in Kalamazoo. But by itself, it is insufficient. Kalamazoo has launched initiatives such as Communities in Schools and the Kalamazoo Learning Network that have increased access to quality preschools. But more is needed to promote social mobility and community development.
Hechinger Report
Theater helps English learners master Common Core: But can it close the achievement gap?
Edison Elementary School language development teacher Kelly Budde created a new theater class to help English language learners improve language and literacy and master the more rigorous requirements of Common Core.
Nonprofits step in to help students that colleges allow to ‘slip through the cracks’
Let’s Get Ready is one of a growing number of outside organizations stepping into what advocates say is a vacuum of on-campus support for students, in spite of universities’ promises to help them.