November 23, 2016
Delaware News
Cape Gazette
Cape educator nominated for LifeChanger of the Year Award
Cape Henlopen High School JROTC instructor Sgt. First Class Richard Hurt has been nominated for the 2016-17 national LifeChanger of the Year Award. Sponsored by the National Life Group Foundation, the national LifeChanger of the Year program recognizes and rewards the very best kindergarten through 12th grade public and private school educators and employees across the United States who are making a difference in the lives of students by exemplifying excellence, positive influence and leadership.
Department of Justice
Delaware makes arguments on behalf of students with disabilities in United States Supreme Court
Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn, joined by the Attorneys General of Massachusetts and New Mexico, filed a formal brief Monday with the United States Supreme Court supporting the appeal of a Colorado public school student with disabilities who claims that his school district has not complied with federal law in meeting his educational needs.
Newsworks
District leaders to watch mold closely at Wilmington school over the holidays
The Christina School District will use the Thanksgiving and winter holiday breaks wisely this year by taking a closer look at some past issues at a Wilmington elementary school. Over the summer, an area water main break near Pulaski Elementary School posed a health problem when mold was detected in a few classrooms. The Delaware Department of Health stepped in early on to make sure students weren’t affected.
The News Journal
Indian River referendum fails in razor-close vote
Taxpayers in the Indian River School District voted Tuesday, Nov. 22, to reject a proposed operating referendum by only 30 votes. With more than 6,000 votes cast, 3,351 people were against the referendum, which would have raised $7.25 million, while 3,321 were for it. Since the referendum did not pass, the school district has the option to go to referendum for a second time.
National News
Cape Cod Today
State launches expanded STEM internship program for HS students
The Baker-Polito Administration today launched an expanded initiative to connect high school students to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) internships across the Commonwealth. The announcement came during a MA STEM@Work event at Vertex headquarters in Boston, a company that’s developed a model high school internship program. One of the greatest challenges facing Massachusetts’ rapidly growing innovation economy is the gap between available jobs in STEM fields and qualified workers to perform them.
KnowledgeWorks
The importance of school culture in personalized learning
In implementing personalized learning, I quickly learned the significance of culture. The classroom culture is important, but I found that sustained success with personalized learning for my students stemmed from the condition of the school culture. My administrators built a strong school culture, one in which the mindset of first doing what’s best for kids and second with the mindset that failure is okay. They rooted this from all stakeholders having a growth mindset.
NewsOK
State posts draft of new education plan
Less of an emphasis on standardized tests, tackling chronic absenteeism and better identifying the academic struggles of overlooked student subgroups are some of the goals outlined in the state’s first draft of a new public schools accountability plan to comply with new federal guidelines. The state Department of Education released its first draft this month in developing a new plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the replacement of No Child Left Behind that was approved by the federal government last year.
NPR
How to talk to kids about Thanksgiving
You know the drill: Trace your hand, then add the details. Two feet, a beak, a single eyeball. Color it in, and voila! Hand becomes turkey. You know the rest too: The Pilgrims fled England and landed on Plymouth Rock. The native people there, the Wampanoag, taught them to farm the land. In 1621, they sat down together for a thanksgiving feast, and we’ve been celebrating it ever since. It’s a lesson many remember from childhood, but the story has some problems.
The Washington Post
Bowser names pick for next D.C. schools chancellor: Oakland schools chief Antwan Wilson
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser could have chosen an insider to be the next chief of D.C. Public Schools, someone steeped in the personalities and policies of the past nine years that ushered in sweeping changes and turned the nation’s capital into a closely watched experiment in urban education reform. Instead, she chose to nominate an outsider — Antwan Wilson, the superintendent of schools in Oakland, Calif. — signaling her desire for a new approach to some of the city’s most intransigent problems, including the persistent achievement gap between children living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods and those in the most affluent.