November 3, 2014
Local News
The Sussex Countian
Indian River unveils new district food pantry
The Indian River School District (IRSD) officially opened its district food pantry on Monday at the G.W. Carver Educational Center in Frankford. The food pantry one of many in Sussex County funded by the Harry K. Foundation. “There are 110 schools in Delaware and our target is to have a pantry in every single one of them,” said Harry K. Foundation founder Harry Kesawni.
The News Journal
Wilmington University plans Concord Pike campus
Wilmington University, a private career-oriented institution near New Castle, is embarking on the largest capital improvement program in its 46-year history with the purchase of 41 acres of undeveloped land on U.S. 202 and Beaver Valley Road in Brandywine Hundred. Plans for the property, owned for decades by Woodlawn Trustees Inc. of Wilmington, call for three classroom buildings on 29 acres with work on the first 50,000-square-foot building expected to begin in about 18 months. University President Jack Varsalona said the expansion will set the course for the university for the next 10 years.
Coastal Point
Students bring civil rights concerns to school board
On Oct. 27, for the first time in many years, students flooded the Indian River School District’s school board meeting, to denounce a board member’s recent comments about the place of homosexuality and abstinence in health education. This is just another civil rights movement, said Sussex Central High School senior Matt Price. “It was kind of a revelation, and it was infuriating,” said Price. “I think the fact that someone has these opinions … in an elected position [is scary].”
National News
Michigan Live
Bills could make Michigan the first state with STEM education certification on high school diplomas
Michigan could become the first state in the country to give graduating high school students a certification for STEM on their diplomas if two bills become law.
KOMO4 News
Study: Teacher hiring should be more scientific
School districts may be able to hire teachers who do a better job in the classroom if they change the way they screen job applicants, a new study has found.
Gallup
Teachers favor Common Core Standards, not the testing
The large majority of U.S. public school teachers, 76 percent, react positively to the primary goal of the Common Core, but this positivity fades when the topic turns to using computerized tests to measure student performance.
EdSource
Database maps college readiness policies
A new report and online database provide a national snapshot of how states are working to prepare students for college, showing how California’s college readiness policies stack up against those in other states.
The Topeka Capital-Journal
Federal officials nix Kansas plan to reduce high school testing
Federal education officials have blocked a Kansas plan to let high-schoolers skip state math and English tests and instead focus on college entrance exams and career-oriented tests.
Inside Higher Ed
Big Ten and the next big thing
Competency-based education is going upmarket. The new programs at the University of Michigan, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin System are designed mostly for adult students with some college credits but no degree.