June 4, 2015
Delaware News
The News Journal
Investigation clears Red Clay tax increase vote
Despite complaints from some voters and lawmakers, the Red Clay Consolidated School District followed the rules when it successfully passed a tax referendum in February, the Delaware Department of Justice has ruled.
Workforce training program expands to Sussex County
A program enabling high school students to earn college credit by learning manufacturing skills from area employers has been expanded into Sussex County. The initiative is part of Pathways to Prosperity, a partnership to prepare students with skills to work in fields such as computer science, culinary arts and hospitality management, manufacturing, biomedical science and engineering.
Education Week
Delaware’s graduation rate is 80 percent overall, 60 percent for students with disabilities
Despite a trend toward such “mainstreaming,” secondary students with disabilities fare differently than their peers both nationwide and within states on a wide range of educational indicators.
Delaware 105.9
Pathways to Prosperity initiative: Gov. Markell speaks at Woodbridge HS
The initiative, which was the primary workforce training initiative announced in the Governor’s State of the State address, is a partnership between employers, colleges, and school districts to develop career pathways that will prepare students with skills to work in high-growth, high-demand fields.
WDEL 101.7
Appoquinimink HS prepares students for technology careers with computer science pathway
A Middletown high school has created a premiere pathway in computer science for its students. Students at Appoquinmink High School will be delving deep into computer programming.
NewsWorks
The upstart university, the beauty queen, and the future of higher ed
Miss Delaware, Brittany Lewis, has become a college professor at Wilmington University. Can a faculty full of part-timers and non-academics deliver a worthy college education?
National News
Education Week
Ed. Dept.: Poorest districts have more trainee teachers
Blog post by Stephen Sawchuk
Across 48 states and the District of Columbia, teachers in high-poverty school districts were about twice as likely to still be learning the ropes than teachers working in the flushest districts in 2011-12, although the number of such trainee teachers is overall fairly small, according to a congressionally mandated report just released by the U.S. Department of Education.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Missouri Legislature throws Common Core test out the window
Missouri public school children spent untold hours this spring prepping for a new computer-based standardized test. It required written essays, details to back up answers, and raised concerns that such a drastic change could overstress students and lead to lackluster results. That test has now been banned by the Legislature.
Grand Lake News
Oklahoma governor signs public education improvement bills
Bills intended to improve teacher evaluations and promote early learning and literacy have been signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin. One of the measures Fallin signed Wednesday extends for three years the use of reading teams meant to evaluate student literacy levels under the Reading Sufficiency Act.
The Hechinger Report
Mississippi to open first early college program styled after schools in North Carolina
Mississippi will offer a program that allows students who successfully finish it to graduate with two degrees: a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. The program is similar to one in rural North Carolina.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Turnaround schools bill gets final legislative OK
Nevada’s Assembly approved legislation that allows the state to designate underperforming public schools as turnaround schools and requires school districts to lay off the least effective teachers and administrators when staff reductions are necessary.