June 29, 2015
Delaware News
The New American
Delaware passes bill allowing opt out of Common Core mandated tests
The Delaware legislature has passed a bill permitting parents to have their kids opt out of Common Core-mandated standardized tests.
Dover Post
Academy of Dover eyes better future after auditor report
After the Office of Auditor Accounts released a critical report about the mismanagement of funds at the Academy of Dover, Kimeu Boynton, the president of the board of directors, said the school is ready to get back on track.
Middletown Transcript
Silver Lake Elementary’s Jodie Klein selected as Delaware Librarian of the Year
Silver Lake Elementary School’s librarian Jodie Klein was recognized as the top bookworm in the state by the Delaware Association of School Librarians (DASL) in the 2015-2016 school year. The Transcript asked Klein more about her background, her work as a librarian, and the book mobile she runs in the school district.
National News
The New York Times
Schools chief in Newark says debate lost its focus
Cami Anderson knew the challenges when she arrived in Newark as its schools superintendent four years ago. Ms. Anderson had, in her tenure and her resignation, become a symbol of the raging national argument about how best to improve public education
Massachusetts takes on a failing school district
Editorial
The Massachusetts public schools consistently rank at or near the top in the nation for performance on the rigorous, federally backed math and reading exams known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The state has nonetheless struggled with how to improve chronically low-performing districts like the one in the impoverished former mill town of Lawrence.
Delaware Public Media
7 Solutions that would improve graduation rates
We decided to ask some of these experts for their thoughts on what can be done to improve the graduation rate — both in improving how it’s reported, and more important, in making sure that students are really succeeding.
The Washington Post
An increasing number of low-income college students have no financial cushion
Nearly three-quarters of the 8.6 million students who received the federal Pell Grant to attend college last year reported having no savings or other cash on hand. That compares to 60 percent of federal grant recipients five years earlier.
Education Week
Ed-Tech trends to look for in 2015: Project-based learning, maker spaces
Over the next few years, schools will increasingly count on technology to try to spark student creativity, independent learning, and innovation, rather using digital tools in passive, rote ways, a new report predicts.
Tampa Bay Times
Florida education board moves to weed out troubled charter school operators
The State Board of Education took steps Wednesday to prevent charter school applicants with poor past performance from opening new schools.