June 8, 2015
Delaware News
Dover Post
Delaware Teaching Center aiding educators
As teachers in local school districts get ready to break for the summer, many will take advantage of classes offered by the Delaware Teaching Center. An estimated 800 teachers rely on the center’s resources during the school year for their lesson plans and to obtain necessary workshop hours for recertification. Educators are worried that the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee will eliminate funding for the center.
Caesar Rodney’s Chinese immersion celebrates third year
“The whole premise behind it is preparing them for the global economy,” said James Cohee, coordinator for the immersion program at Allen Frear. The immersion program was the result of Gov. Jack Markell’s World Language Expansion Initiative in 2012.
How to encourage girls’ interest in math, science
“We know that 78 percent of school-aged girls have an interest in STEM, yet women only make up 25 percent of the STEM workforce, and that somewhere along the lines we are losing these STEM girls,” said Sandy Marshall, founder of Project Scientist, which aims to reach young girls interested in STEM fields and keep them on track to a STEM career.
National News
The Record
Ann Arbor schools policy would require students to take state tests
New Jersey’s top education official said that he will unveil plans for a sweeping review of academic standards to answer Gov. Chris Christie’s call for an overhaul. The governor said that the Common Core set of standards “simply isn’t working” and was a case of federal overreach.
MLive.com
N.J. education chief to unveil plans for review of academic standards
An Ann Arbor Public Schools policy could require all students to take state exams, and consequences of not taking the exam could be severe for some students. If students don’t take all state assessments, the district could remove the students from application-based schools and programs.
The Washington Post
The ultimate in school choice or school as a commodity?
Under the law that Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Tuesday, low-income families or students with disabilities can receive the same amount the state spends per public school student, or an average of about $5,700, while middle- and upper-income families will receive slightly less, about $5,100 a year.
The Daily Beast
Great teachers save lives (literally)
Column by John Edelman
Notwithstanding the tremendous burdens that poverty and family breakdown place on children, it’s clear that great teachers make a critical difference and can help level the playing field for students from broken homes and/or underserved communities. And yet, ridiculously, our public education system isn’t set up to develop, identify, reward, or retain great teachers.
EdSurge
Can games and digital tools help students take fewer tests?
Motion Math has been trying to solve a tough problem: Can digital tools assess for student mastery within the content so that students don’t have to take so many tests?