June 3, 2015
Delaware News
The News Journal
Seven things Delaware lawmakers will tackle in June
It has become a theme of this year’s legislative session: Lawmakers, many in his own party, are challenging Democratic Gov. Jack Markell on education reform.
Parents know ‘Smarter Balance Test’ is bad for kids
Opinion by Kevin Ohlandt, “Exceptional Delaware” blogger.
This is House Bill 50 in a nutshell: it codifies the already existing right for parents to make the choice to opt their child out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. It also protects parents from misleading, false, and intimidating behaviors coming from the schools, districts, and charters. Some parents were offended the data would be tracked by the Department of Education, but they are already doing this. Many parents already use choice to decide which school their child will attend. This is just another choice.
‘Opt out’ would hurt Del. students
Letter to the Editor by Mark A. Turner, CEO & President, WSFS; Chip Rossi, Delaware Market President, Bank of America; and Mark Stellini, Principal, Assurance Media, LLC
As business leaders in Delaware, and as supporters of strong Delaware public schools, we urge the Senate Education Committee to vote “NO” on House Bill 50, which would establish a process to allow parents to opt their child out of state testing.
Delaware First Media
Exploding myths about learning through gaming
What looks like a 21st-century, flashy, high-tech way to keep kids entertained is in fact a tool that taps into an ancient way to process, explore and understand the world,” writes veteran education reporter – and former teacher – Greg Toppo.
National News
Ledger-Enquirer
Textbooks: Center of debate but no longer center of classroom
Georgia’s goal is to have all instructional content purchased by local school boards to be in an electronic format and all local school systems to provide a wireless computer device to each of their students as the principal source of reading or accessing instructional content by July 1, 2020.
NJ.com
More N.J. teachers get poor reviews in new rating system
More New Jersey teachers received poor performance reviews in 2013-14, the first year of a new evaluation system that factors student performance into a teacher’s evaluation.
Education Week
How can students better apply math learning? New studies hold answers
“One reason that STEM concepts are difficult to transfer is because they are siloed. Although I believe that there is change afoot in this regard,” said Holly A. Taylor, a psychology professor at Tufts University, in Medford, Mass., because new mathematics and science standards in most states are focused more on underlying processes than on learning just facts.
Los Angeles Times
College Board, Khan Academy team up to offer free SAT prep program
The College Board, which administers the Scholastic Assessment Test, has joined forces with Khan Academy, the well-regarded online education nonprofit based in Silicon Valley, to create tutorials in math and English and practice tests that evaluate students’ knowledge of those subjects. Officials with both organizations said it will help familiarize college applicants with changes in the test that are meant to better align it to curricula taught in high school classrooms.
The New York Times
For the poor, the graduation gap is even wider than the enrollment gap
Any poor children who manage to score at the top of the class are increasingly beating the odds. Yet even when they beat the odds in high school, they still must fight a new set of tough odds when it comes to completing college.
EdSource
Schools face challenge of explaining Common Core test results to parents
As school districts wrap up administering new online assessments aligned with the Common Core, educators now face another challenge: how best to share with millions of parents how their children fared on the tests.