March 31, 2016

Delaware

Delaware 105.9
Delaware Dept. of Ed receives $100,000 grant
Improving career preparation services is the purpose of a grant won by the Delaware Department of Education. The department won a $100,000 grant, part of a multi-state initiative developed by JPMorgan Chase, the Council of Chief State School Officers and Advance CTE. Secretary of Education Steven Godowsky says the grant money will go towards developing a detailed career readiness action plan, an essential step to expanding economic opportunities for young people across the state.

Department of Education
Delaware wins grant to develop plan to improve career preparation systems
The Delaware Department of Education has secured a $100,000 grant to develop a detailed career readiness action plan, which is an essential step to expanding economic opportunity for young people across the First State. Delaware is among 24 states and the District of Columbia that secured grants for this work through phase one of New Skills for Youth grant opportunity.

The Milford Beacon
Legislation in works to have all school board meetings recorded
A bill requiring school boards to audio record their meetings is starting to gain traction in the General Assembly. On March 10, House Bill 61 unanimously passed the House of Representatives. It’s now headed to the Senate for a vote.  The primary sponsor of the bill is Rep. Deborah Hudson. She said she was relieved to find it had successfully passed the House.

The News Journal
Chess is the game of choice at Thomas Edison
At one Wilmington school, chess – not football or basketball – is the most popular sport. Only a fraction of the students who play chess at Thomas Edison Charter School on Wilmington’s East Side are on the school’s highly rated team, which is heading to a national championship next month. Hundreds of students in the school play chess in the lunch room and at recess, said a handful of the ones who are on the official 25-member team.

Is zero tolerance the antidote?
Opinion by Patrick Wahl, Dentist at Wahl Family Dentistry and the father of three children
My son, now a senior at Brandywine High School, was the victim of a search of dubious legality which is now the subject of litigation. While the search is the central issue of the suit, the school district’s “zero tolerance” policies greatly compounded the fallout of the school’s initial mistakes. “Zero tolerance” mandates suspension or expulsion for students who violate rules, regardless of the intent or circumstances.

National

Education Week
ESSA may offer megaphone for parent, community voices
Advocates for parent and community engagement see the newly revised federal K-12 law as an opportunity to expand their impact on states’ academic goals, plans for school improvement, and other areas of policy. Requirements in federal education law for parental involvement in public schools are nothing new. But because the new Every Student Succeeds Act shifts significant responsibility over accountability and other matters to states and districts, there’s renewed hope that parent, community, civil rights, and other groups will have more sway over what has been, in many cases, a narrower decisionmaking process

KOMO News
Gov. Inslee signs 2 education bills in Seattle
Gov. Jay Inslee signed two education bills in Seattle on Wednesday, both aimed at helping disadvantaged kids get a better education. He signed a measure that will help improve education for foster youth just after noon at a luncheon at the Seattle Sheraton. Then he visited Aki Kurose Middle School to sign a bill aimed at closing the educational opportunity gap.

NPR
A diverse teacher force? This search firm can help, but it’ll cost you
More than half of public school students are members of minority groups, but 83 percent of their teachers are white. Half of students are boys, while three-quarters of teachers are women. Students can benefit in many ways from having teachers who look like them, but in many schools around the country the math doesn’t add up. In recent years, attention to the issue has been increasing, with national teachers’ unions and the U.S. Education Department, among others, trying to raise awareness and drum up more diverse recruits.

The Huffington Post
The U.S. makes 4 important education commitments to the world
Blog post by Sean McComb, English (AVID) & Staff Development Teacher at Patapsco High School & Center for the Arts
Every few years the education news and policy world’s ears perk up and tune-in to the release of PISA results. Data is diagnosed and dissected; country performances are condemned or coronated. PISA has its place; but just like classroom and school-level data, it’s only as powerful as the questions it inspires, the policies it informs, and the practices we’re spurred to examine.

WPRI
Everything you need to know about Rhode Island’s ‘empowerment schools’
From budgeting to class schedules, Rhode Island Education Commissioner Ken Wagner on Wednesday unveiled a plan to give principals and teachers sweeping control over most of the major decisions made in their schools every day. In his first State of Education address to the General Assembly, Wagner said he wants to create “empowerment schools” that would give leaders in traditional public schools the freedom to redesign their classrooms as they see fit. So how will it work?