March 15, 2017
Delaware News
Town Square Delaware
Mentoring program boosts kids’ career options
With half of skilled trade workers in Delaware expected to retire in the next five years, a mentoring program is looking to help talented high school students fill a growing demand for skilled laborers in the design and construction industry. The ACE Mentor Program is working with students at four Delaware high schools – Delcastle Technical High School, Hodgson Vocational Technical High School, St. Georges Technical High School, and William Penn High School – to give these young people practical experience that will accelerate their entry into the workforce following graduation.
Cape Gazette
H.O.B. holds Black History Month program
H.O. Brittingham Elementary School students and guests performed their annual Black History Month program to a packed house of students, staff, parents and community members Feb. 24. This program enabled students and the community to reflect on the contributions of amazing African-Americans from Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks to President Barack Obama.
Rodel Blog
Can personalized learning defray the cost of special education
Blog post by Rachel Wiggans Chan, senior program officer at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Special education costs nearly twice as much as regular classroom education, but early intervention can decrease special education costs by 40 percent. Scrapping the one-size-fits-all education system we have today and replacing it with an individualized approach may be just what’s needed to meet every students’ needs and maximize student success.
How dropping out leads to lost economic potential
Blog post by Rachel Wiggans Chan, senior program officer at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
The lost economic potential of high school dropouts is no joke for Delaware’s economy. Typically, high school dropouts earn $8,000 less annually, compared to high school graduates. In Delaware, high school dropouts are twice as likely as high school graduates and six times as likely as college graduates to live in poverty.
Legislative hall pass: Compulsory ed law aims to curb dropouts
Blog post by Neil Kirschling, program officer at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Discouraging drop-outs is a hot topic in Delaware this year, and one way that policymakers are seeking to accomplish this is by amending the state’s compulsory education law—the law that defines the age range in which a student is required to attend school or some other equivalent education program.
The News Journal
Principal favors traditional style with modern twist
Shanta Reynolds is the principal at St. Georges Technical High School. He was nominated by Jermaine Williams, who says: “Mr. Reynolds exemplifies how a professional should act and dress, which truly makes him a role model for the students at St. Georges. Even on School Spirit Fridays, when the staff is able to wear jeans, Mr. Reynolds is proudly wearing his blue and green from top to bottom. His style shows students that dressing up does not have to be boring.”
National News
Billings Gazette
Superintendent Elsie Arntzen pulling back Montana’s ESSA plan
Montana’s plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act has been pulled back for review. Superintendent Elsie Arntzen announced Monday that she will be pulling back the state’s ESSA plan, which was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in December. It needs to be updated, she said, “with a new administration” at DOE in Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and hours after DeVos released an updated application for state plans.
The Tennessean
Nashville’s Shawn Joseph to present first Metro schools budget
The first details of Metro Nashville Public Schools’ 2017-18 budget will be released Tuesday afternoon, with Director Shawn Joseph expected to make major changes in his first budget as the district’s leader. From conversations about the draft budget, it’s clear Joseph and his administration will keep the district’s student-based budgeting model in place, which grants some autonomy to principals to make budgeting decisions for their school.
Casper Star Tribune
Input sought in effort to review Wyoming math standards
The Wyoming Department of Education has put out a call to residents as it looks to build a committee that will review the state’s math standards. Parents, teachers, school board members and others are all invited to apply to join the review committee.
Education Week
Kindergartners enter more ready in math and literacy, researchers say
Daphna Bassok at the University of Virginia and Scott Latham of Stanford University looked at teacher assessments of the skills of their kindergarten students in 1998 and in 2010. A score of 1 meant the child was showing no knowledge of a given skill, while 5 meant the child had not only mastered it, but could demonstrate the skill consistently. The assessments were made in the first few months of the kindergarten year.
The 74 Million
Trump reportedly wants $6 billion in education cuts — but history shows he likely won’t get them
Washington greets the president’s annual budget release the way it does a forecast of a few inches of snow — which is to say, often with a huge overreaction. Much like there’s little need to rush out for bread and milk, advocates probably shouldn’t worry that the federal budget house will immediately come crashing down. The Trump administration is days away from releasing its first budget proposal, and it reportedly will request big changes — and cuts — to the Education Department.