May 17, 2016
Delaware
Cape Gazette
Changing complexion of Cape’s school board
For the first time in more than a decade, no minority will be seated on Cape Henlopen school board. The absence of any minority representation comes following the death of board member Noble Prettyman in 2015, who was the top vote getter in Milton for three terms and served for 12 years. Milton resident Jackie Brisco was appointed to fill Prettyman’s area A seat, but she decided not to run for election to the seat in 2016.
Department of Education
Drivers take home honors at 2016 School Bus Roadeo
Thirteen school bus drivers competed in the 27th Annual School Bus Roadeo Saturday at Smyrna Middle School. The school bus safety competition is designed to recognize excellence in school bus drivers while demonstrating skills needed in their demanding jobs. Events during the competition included: written test, bugged bus, offset alley, railroad crossing, straight line, right turn, back-in to a dock, parallel park, decreasing clearance and bus stop.
Delaware State News
Capital School District completes second phase of strategic plan
Capital School District moved one step forward in the development of its strategic plan last week by holding several co-labs at its administrative complex. “I’m really proud of our 42 stakeholders,” Superintendent Dan Shelton said Thursday. “They’ve all volunteered to be here and share their opinions to help us through this phase.” The co-labs were the second of four phases necessary to develop a strategic plan.
Rodel Blog
Celebrating Superstars
Blog post by Matt Amis, senior communications officer at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Last week, The Partnership, Inc. (an affiliate of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce), celebrated another sterling entry in its long-running Superstars in Education awards program. Superstars is a statewide awards program that seeks to promote and share programs and best practices in education that show measurable results and raise student achievement.
No Fair Deal with Delaware’s Antique Funding System
Blog post by Jordan Dutton, eighth grade English language arts teacher at W.T. Chipman Middle School
In 1949 President Truman presented his famous “Fair Deal” speech, presenting the idea that that every American should get a “fair deal” from their government. Following that speech, Congress nearly doubled the national minimum wage and created 800,000 new houses for the poor. Also in 1949, the State of Delaware created its educational unit count funding
system.
The Tennessean
Shawn Joseph is Nashville’s new schools chief
Shawn Joseph is Nashville’s next director of schools, capping a tumultuous year that saw one failed search lead to a second with greater community involvement and an eventual unanimous decision by the Metro school board to pick him to become the first African-American to lead the 86,000-student district. Joseph is a former teacher, principal and an administrator whose past posts include former superintendent of Seaford School District.
WDEL
Voters head to polls in Brandywine for 2nd tax hike attempt
Voters in the Brandywine School District are once again heading to the polls Tuesday to vote on a tax hike. “There will be cuts in staffing, starting with administrators, teachers paraprofessionals through all ranks,” warned Brandywine Superintendent Dr. Mark Holodick, if residents fail to vote in favor of the district’s second attempt in less than two months on a referendum.
National
Deseret News
School board calls for review of Common Core, supports removing SAGE from high school
The Utah State Board of Education voted Friday to do a comprehensive review of Utah’s English and math standards in answer to ongoing debate over the Common Core State Standards adopted in 2010. The review will be contingent upon a one-time budget supplement from the Utah Legislature to handle the work of reviewing those standards in addition to others already scheduled for review. That motion passed in a 13-2 vote.
Education Week
Popularity of ed tech not necessarily linked to products’ impact
Digital learning tools that fit well within existing classrooms and don’t disrupt the educational status quo tend to be the most widely adopted, despite their limited impact on student learning, an analysis of ed-tech products designed for higher education concludes. Experts say that pattern is also reflected in K-12, raising tough questions about whether many ed-tech vendors’ emphasis on quickly bringing their products to scale is actually hampering the larger goal of improving schools.
NPR
A First: Pell Grants for high school students who take college classes
This week, the U.S. Education Department said it will make Pell Grants available to 10,000 high school students who are enrolled in courses at 44 colleges. It’s an ambitious experiment aimed at closing the attainment gap between rich and poor students in higher education. The Obama Administration wants to give students a head start on college.
The Hechinger Report
How to help principals do a better job? Train their bosses
It was almost the end of first period at Bret Harte Middle School when the five superintendents descended on math class. Dressed in suits and armed with pens, notebooks, and laptops, the superintendents had one specific goal as they fanned out across the classroom, interacting with students: to look for evidence that a geometry lesson was aligned to the new state math standards.
Times Free Press
Community shares input on improving public education in Chattanooga area
Patricia Russell was eager to brainstorm about improving Hamilton County’s schools with members of the community. Russell is one of several hundred people to attend Chattanooga 2.0’s first community forum Monday night held at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, and talk about ways the public can be involved in the initiative’s work to improve public education and the county’s workforce development.