November 2, 2016

Delaware News

Delaware Public Media
Farm to school movement growing in Delaware
The farm to school movement in the First State is growing. Delaware resident Thianda Manzara was inspired by a 2003 visit to the Edible Schoolyard in California, and worked to create a school vegetable gardening program in Delaware. And since 2008, her program – Healthy Food for Healthy Kids – has sprouted in 26 First State schools, integrating community gardens into the science curriculum. On Tuesday morning, she was working with fifth graders at New Castle Elementary.

Delaware State News
Markell: Statewide assessments indicate improvement in student outcomes
Gov. Jack Markell on Tuesday lauded the level of community engagement in education as one of the most encouraging signs of progress in the state’s pursuit of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) approved in December last year. “Education has become so politicized over the last several years,” said Gov. Markell. “I think it has just been important that we have a robust group of people who come from a number of different perspectives getting engaged.

The Dover Post
State releases draft ESSA plan components
The Delaware Department of Education is sharing draft components of the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act plan for public feedback. The drafts released Oct. 31 follow the guidance the state has received from the U.S. Department of Education to date and are informed by the input the department received from community members and other education stakeholders at a series of community conversations and discussion groups and through online surveys this fall.

The Milford Beacon
Students, educators turned off by 2016 election
Ever since the 2016 race for the White House started gaining momentum Delaware educators and students have been scratching their heads. “This has been an election where all ideas of civil discourse have gone out the window,” said Sussex Central High School social studies teacher Eileen McAnulla. In past elections she noticed students were able to make their own decisions based on the issues. That hasn’t been the case this year.

The News Journal
DSU serving as national model for effective giving to education
Opinion by Nicholas Lambrow, Delaware regional president at M&T Bank
Private giving to higher education in America reached a record high in 2015, totaling $40.3 billion in giving. The numbers are up primarily as a result of a few major donations made to well-financed schools. But there is also an emerging trend of the private sector funding institutions that focus on underserved communities and develop the workforce of tomorrow.

National News

The Hechinger Report
The U.S. Department of Education offers a new tool to help schools measure ed tech results
A new tool from the U.S. Department of Education will help school districts rapidly measure the results of education technology. The Ed Tech Rapid Cycle Evaluation Coach was announced last week at the Blended and Online Learning Symposium in San Antonio, Texas. It’s still in the early stages, so those interested in using the tool must apply to be part of the inaugural group.

Education Week
Teachers underestimate girls’ math abilities, report suggests
What is keeping girls from pursuing opportunities and careers in math? Certain barriers could be perpetuated by their teachers, a new study suggests. Starting as early as kindergarten, teachers perceive boys’ math ability as higher than girls’, regardless of the students’ learning styles and levels of achievement, according to researchers from New York University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and West Chester University in a study published last week in AERA Open.

The New York Times
How to deal with digital distractions
I used to teach at the graduate school of information sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. I couldn’t believe how many students looked at ESPN.com or its ilk in class. We live in a world of screens, where digital distractions contend with our need to learn. Is multitasking a good idea? No. Clifford Nass, a Stanford professor who pioneered research into how humans interact with technology, conducted numerous studies of people juggling different cognitive tasks, like talking on the phone, watching television and working on a computer. Basically, people are bad at it.