March 26, 2014

Local News

The News Journal
Achieving better opportunities for all Delawareans
An op-ed by Governor Markell and Dr. Harry Lee Williams, President of Delaware State University
Recognizing that access to a quality education is essential for all of our young people to unleash their potential, we should be encouraged by recent news about our traditionally underserved African-American community and we must now take the opportunity to build on our progress.

Middletown Transcript
Silver Lake Elem students finding a leader in themselves
Last Friday, dozens of students explained to parents and community members how they’ve been able to meet those goals and many more by using skills they learned from their school’s involvement in the Leader In Me program. Using Covey’s follow-up books “7 Habits of Happy Kids” and “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” participating schools like Silver Lake Elementary encourage their students to set personal goals, take ownership of their attitudes, make schedules, consider the feelings of others, work together and practice healthy living, like eating right and getting plenty of exercise.

National News

USA Today
Obama report claims successes for ‘Race to the Top’
Nearly four years after launching the “Race to the Top” education grant program, the Obama administration says the money benefits 22 million students and 1.5 million teachers in more than 40,000 schools. Delaware launched the Delaware Talent Cooperative that provides retention awards — $2,500 to $10,000 over two years — to qualified educators willing to stay in the most challenging schools.

National Review
Why I support Common Core
An op-ed by Bob Riley, former governor of Alabama
Put simply, Common Core does not allow the federal government to prescribe what our children learn. Much of the resistance to the program stems from this single misperception, which is itself rooted in a deep distrust of the president. But President Obama isn’t driving the standards, nor did he create them. The states are propelling Common Core. Currently, all but five states have fully implemented the standards.

Education Week
Waiver states continue to struggle
The U.S. Department of Education released nine monitoring reports that look at how states are doing with implementation of flexibility from the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act. Overall, states continue to struggle with turning around their lowest-performing schools.

Indianapolis Star
Indiana is first state to officially end Common Core
Less than four years after Indiana became an early adopter of the national Common Core education standards, Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation making Indiana the first state to opt out of the K-12 guidelines.

Inside Higher Ed
Report: Grad student debt surges
The amount of debt that graduate and professional students are incurring to pay for their education has surged over the past several years, according to a New American Foundation report, from $40,209 in 2004 to $57,600 in 2012.