March 19, 2015
Delaware News
The News Journal
A longer reprieve on Delaware teacher evaluations?
Teachers could get a second year without standardized test scores factoring in their evaluations, as the Delaware Department of Education announced Wednesday it wants to ask the federal government for a longer reprieve.
Testing is needed for equity
Letter to the Editor by Deborah T. Wilson, President & CEO of Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League
The Urban League stands behind the federal requirement and use of standardized assessments because this data is essential to holding states, districts and local schools accountable for student progress, and equity in the application of resources for student success. We do, however, also acknowledge the outsized time that additional local and district assessments take in today’s classrooms.
Legislation would open up UD, Delaware State
Rep. John Kowalko, a Newark Democrat, has re-introduced legislation to make Delaware’s public universities more transparent. The bill would force the University of Delaware and Delaware State University to fully comply with the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Currently, only university records relating to the expenditure of public funds are subject to the open records law.
Coons sponsors bill to create manufacturing universities
Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat, has co-sponsored legislation to help schools strengthen their engineering programs by tailoring their curriculum to meet the manufacturing industry’s modern demands.
WDDE
State will ask for more time before using new test in teacher evaluation
The state Department of Education is requesting an additional one-year delay on the national requirement to use state test scores when evaluating teacher performance. Last year, DOE requested and received a similar delay for this year – the first that the Smarter Balance assessment is being used in Delaware public schools.
National News
The Times-Picayune
Gov. Bobby Jindal looks to legislative battle to get rid of Common Core
Gov. Bobby Jindal kicked off the upcoming legislative session’s expected battle over Common Core, announcing Wednesday (March 18) that he would back three pieces of legislation aimed at removing the education standards.
AL.com
Alabama House passes charter school bill
Alabama is one of eight states that do not allow public charter schools, according to the Alabama Coalition for Public Charter Schools. “It is time for Alabama to join the other 42 states that provide this innovative option to educators, parents, and students,” the House sponsor, Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said in a statement.
The Washington Post
Civil rights complaints to U.S. Department of Education reach a record high
Attorneys and investigators in the civil rights office have seen their workloads double since 2007, and the number of unresolved cases mushroom, as complaints have poured in from around the country about students from kindergarten through college facing discrimination on the basis of race, sex and disabilities.
Community College Daily
Several states consider free-tuition bills
Lawmakers in 10 states have introduced legislation calling for free community college tuition. Five of those measures – in Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Maryland and Missouri – have died, but the rest are still pending. Most of those proposals are modeled on the Tennessee Promise.
Huffington Post
Racial gaps in HS grad rates seem to be closing
Even though significantly more white and Asian/Pacific Islander students are graduating from high school than their Hispanic, black and American Indian peers, achievement gaps in this area still appear to be closing.