May 30, 2017

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Rehoboth Elementary students raise $5,200 in Jump Rope for Heart
Rehoboth Elementary School students raised a total of $5,232 for the American Heart Association through Jump Rope for Heart. The activity is part of the fitness and conditioning unit in coach Richard Lantz’s physical education curriculum during February, which is Heart Month. Students voluntarily raise money for the American Heart Association outside of school.

Delaware Public Media
Handful of Wilmington charter schools make downtown location work
The anticipated blossoming of charter schools near Wilmington’s Rodney Square hasn’t worked out quite as envisioned, but four city charters say they’re thriving as they deepen their downtown roots. Kuumba Academy, which moved from its original home at Fifth and Market streets into the new Community Education Building nearly three years ago, has completed its expansion into a K-8 program, with 745 students enrolled and about 300 more on a waiting list.

First State teachers see need for social and emotional learning
A new survey finds most First State teachers think social and emotional learning is critical to a student’s success. The survey results find 9 out of 10 teachers in the First State want to emphasize social and emotional learning in the classroom. And they want training as well.

Rodel Blog
Tribute to a global teacher
Blog post by Paul Herdman, president and ceo of the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Last Friday, a friend and colleague, Lee Sing Kong, passed away from an apparent heart attack at the age of 65. See a story about his passing here. He was both a horticulturist and an educator. I knew him as the latter in his role as the director of the National Institute for Education (NIE). He was a master educator.

Digging Deeper: Student need grows as budgets shrink
Blog post by Shyanne Miller, policy associate at the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
Delaware’s budget crisis has taken quite a toll on education and the state as a whole. At the same time, student needs are growing, with some of our highest-need populations (low-income students, English learners, and students with disabilities) increasing at a faster rate than ever.

National News

Education Week
Trump K-12 priorities on full display in 2018 budget pitch
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Education made plenty of waves for its emphasis on school choice and its cuts to long-standing programs—but Congress has no obligation to go along with the plan, and there hasn’t been a show of overwhelming support for either idea on Capitol Hill just yet. The fiscal 2018 proposal from the Trump administration emphasizes the commitment to choice and austerity, despite the political sensitivities involved.

NPR
When schools meet trauma with understanding, not discipline
If you know anything about New Orleans public schools, you probably know this: Hurricane Katrina wiped them out and almost all the schools became privately run charters. Many of those schools subscribed to the no excuses discipline model — the idea that if you crack down on slight misbehavior, you can prevent bigger issues from erupting.

The Hechinger Report
Government data single out schools where low-income students fare worst
New government data suggest that some colleges and universities are graduating as few of one out of 10 of the low-income students whose educations are being subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of more than $30 billion a year. The information was released on request by the U.S. Department of Education, which has now posted lists of which colleges and universities do the best at enrolling and graduating recipients of Pell Grants.

The Seattle Times
Washington’s K-12 chief pitches vision of ‘very different’ school system
As part of a six-year plan to overhaul K-12 schools in Washington, the state’s new superintendent of public instruction wants all students to learn a second language before they get to high school, and all high-school students to earn some college credit before they graduate.

The Washington Post
With state budget in crisis, many Oklahoma schools hold classes four days a week
A deepening budget crisis here has forced schools across the Sooner State to make painful decisions. Class sizes have ballooned, art and foreign-language programs have shrunk or disappeared, and with no money for new textbooks, children go without. Perhaps the most significant consequence: Students in scores of districts are now going to school just four days a week.