March 21, 2017

Delaware News

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.

Sussex Countian
Sussex Central’s mock trial team takes second in state
The Sussex Central High School mock trial team has become quite a force, placing second in this year’s statewide competition Feb. 24 and 25. The team was formed 12 years ago, and Helen Elliot, a civics turned driver’s education teacher at Sussex Central, has coached it for seven. Out of 26 school teams Sussex Central ranked 25th in her first year coaching.

The News Journal
Serviam Academy students published in local magazine
It’s not every day that a middle schooler gets to brag about being a published author or artist — yet that’s exactly what not one, but five, students at Serviam Girls Academy got to do this month. Their works were recently published in IMAZINE, the annual teen literary and artistic magazine published by the Delaware Libraries. The girls — eighth-graders Briarra Barnes, Paige Ponzo Ta’maja Opher, and sixth-graders Dyana Escobar and Maekiera Costanzo — were recognized at a release party held at the Bear Library, where Delaware’s Poets Laureate, The Twin Poets, Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Albert Mills, were special guests.

Bipartisan bill would bring cursive back to schools
With the increasing prominence of cellphones and computers, some Delaware lawmakers are concerned that cursive writing is becoming a lost art. So, they are crossing party lines this month to sponsor a bill with one goal: to bring cursive writing back to public schools. “Under current educational standards, students are no longer required to be taught cursive writing and many schools have abandoned teaching cursive writing to students,” says the bill, sponsored by Rep. Andria Bennett, D-Dover.

The Milford Beacon
Banneker students put each other in check
When Liam Kilgore asked his teacher, Todd French, if they could start a chess club at Benjamin Banneker Elementary School, he was told to ask someone in charge. The 10-year-old didn’t have to go far — his mother, Bobbie Kilgore, is the principal. “I went to my mom and asked her and she gave me permission,” Kilgore said. The club, which consists of fourth- and fifth-graders, meets once a month after school in the cafeteria.

National News

Chalkbeat
How Denver Public Schools wants to drive a conversation about creating more integrated schools
Denver Public Schools is pledging to start a conversation about gentrification and spiraling housing costs in the city, hoping to use the results to create more integrated schools. The school board on Thursday approved a “Resolution for Strengthening Neighborhoods.” It calls for forming a citywide committee to study those demographic shifts, which are driving a major reduction in the number of school-age children in many neighborhoods.

Education Week
Kentucky schools poised for major shake-up
After years of ill-fated attempts, Kentucky is on a sure-footed path to becoming the 44th state to allow charter schools, one of two sweeping measures the legislature passed this session that promises to reshape the state’s K-12 education system. Kentucky’s new majority of Republican lawmakers—supported by a GOP governor—approved legislation to allow charter schools, start a process that could change or eventually repeal the Common Core State Standards, and strike at the core of the state’s unusual governance of schools.

The Hechinger Report
Why six states still spend nothing on preschool
In 1864, the tiny town of Idaho City was the biggest American settlement in the state. Now, with the gold rush long over, the logging industry nearly collapsed and few good jobs left in the area, the local K-12 school graduates fewer than 35 students a year. Nevertheless, since 1999, every 4-year-old in town has been offered an option most 4-year-olds in Idaho don’t get: a spot in a free, public preschool program.

The Salt Lake Tribune
Push to raise Utah income tax to help schools moving ahead
A group backed by business leaders said this week they plan to move ahead with a push to get Utah voters to raise the state income tax to generate an extra $750 million annually to address a teacher shortage, crowded classrooms and other school needs. Officials with the group Our Schools Now said they appreciate an extra $120 million lawmakers put in the new budget toward enrollment growth and teacher pay this year, but said it’s not enough.

Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Go for heaven on seven: Leverage the Title I school improvement set-aside for new school creation
Commentary by Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
“Taken from us too soon, after a valiant fight with ‘local control.’” So tweeted Morgan Polikoff after the Obama Administration’s ESSA accountability regulations succumbed to the Congressional Review Act. The rules shouldn’t go to heaven alone, however. We should also allow many of the nation’s lowest performing schools to pass on to a better place—and use the federal law’s 7 percent Title I set-aside to give birth to new schools in their stead.