November 3, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
School redistricting effort facing growing criticism
Opposition to the push to redistrict Wilmington schools is growing, even as important deadlines draw near. The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission has been tasked with creating a plan that would remove the Christina and Colonial school districts from the city and give the students and schools they serve to the Red Clay School District. The group plans to present a draft of that plan later this month. The state Board of Education will vote on the plan in December, after which the legislature would need to sign off on it as well.

Cape Gazette
Cape working out iPad glitches
Randolph Reynolds, information technology supervisor for Cape, said four technicians are working at the high school to assist with iPad issues. He said there are currently about 60 iPads of the roughly 1,500 issued that need operating-system updates and another 160 that are functional but need adjustments.

Town Square Delaware
Archmere student’s tie business a ‘novel’ success
Shreyas Parab, who turns 15 Wednesday, began the project when he enrolled in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) at Rosemont College for business guidance. When he pitched his idea to a panel of local business leaders and entrepreneurs during the YEA! program, the panel invested $800 in NovelTie and chose him to represent the Greater Philadelphia Area at the Saunders Semi-Finals Northeastern Competition. There, Shreyas was one of six finalists in the country selected to present his business plan to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Summit and was also awarded a trip to the Sam’s Club/WalMart corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Newark Post
Christina Early Education Center earns five-star rating
The Christina Early Education Center recently became the 100th early-learning center to earn a five-star rating in the Delaware Department of Education’s Stars for Early Success program and last week, Principal Rebecca Ryan wanted to announce the accomplishment in style.

National News

The Atlantic
The costs of English-Only education
Efforts to teach ELL students in their native languages are gaining traction – and they’re benefitting native English speakers, too.

Associated Press
Help for homework help: Teaching parents Common Core math
Any adult who has tried to help a second-grader with homework has noticed math is not what it used to be. Now schools are unlocking the secrets of Common Core math for mystified parents. They’re holding special classes or giving out materials designed for adults so they can help children with their math homework. After parents learn the strategies, educators say, they’re more willing to get on board with Common Core math amid criticism from some politicians, from fellow parents, on social media and from celebrities like Louis C.K., who complained Common Core math made his daughters cry.

Los Angeles Times
Deterioration of public school arts programs has been particularly jarring in L.A.
The Times’ analysis shows that elementary school arts programs in poor neighborhoods have been the hardest hit despite the district’s decades-long attempt to close the gap between low-income and more affluent students. A key factor contributing to the disparities is the ability of schools in more affluent areas to tap foundations and community members for help as district funds dwindled. Elementary schools that supplemented arts education at their campuses with outside resources had an average poverty rate of 60%, well below the district average. On the other end, at campuses that relied solely on district funding for the arts, 82% of students were low-income.

Columbus Dispatch
Kasich signs charter school bill into law
Long-awaited reforms designed to improve the performance, accountability and transparency of charter schools were signed into law Sunday morning by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The governor signed House Bill 2 to upgrade oversight of the tax-funded, privately operated schools, some of which have been dogged by poor pupil academic performance and mismanagement of public dollars.

The New York Times
Spending bills for Arizona schools are approved
Arizona lawmakers on Friday approved a package of bills that could inject $3.5 billion into K-12 schools over 10 years, settling a five-year-old lawsuit that had been filed by several school districts after the state refused to make inflation-adjusted payments during the worst years of the recession.