November 30, 2015

Delaware News

The News Journal
Class notes: City schools plan, choice applications
The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission has created a draft plan for improving education in the city and the state, including redistricting city schools and overhauling the state’s funding formula. The commission is seeking the public’s input on the plan, which can be found at SolutionsForDelawareSchools.com, before it submits a final version to the State Board of Education on Dec. 15.

Shields Elementary teacher featured on national website
At Richard A. Shields Elementary, teachers are hoping to shed the reputation for a new one, as a learner themselves. A new initiative started this year called Learning Labs has teachers designing lessons together, then taking “teacher timeouts” during class time to receive feedback from their peers.

Delaware charter schools face obstacles to growth
School leaders and parents at successful Delaware charter schools say the state can and should do more to help them grow. While understanding that the Department of Education has to crack down on charters showing evidence of financial mismanagement or a failure to provide high-quality education, parents and educators wonder: If a school has top test scores, deep community connections and parents clamoring for expansion, can’t the state help?

Cape Gazette
Rehoboth Elementary students explore India through art
In the Rehoboth Elementary School art classes, students are producing wonderful artwork and learning about the rich cultural history of India. Art teacher Kelly Ranieri creates her annual lesson plans around different geographic areas. India is currently the focus.

Delaware Public Media
High school students tackle housing solutions for refugees
Students at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington have set their minds to helping solve the housing crisis for refugees around the world by producing a home called a Wikihouse. The class is the first student led WikiHouse chapter. The WikiHouse Foundation in England has challenged the group to think not only about housing, but entire community solutions.

National News

The Washington Post
Cautionary tale in one district shows how others get special education right
Column by Jay Matthews
Jane Ledford was 5 years old when her parents, Marian and Ed, enrolled her in the Albemarle County, Va., school system. She had had health problems since birth. She wore glasses, was undersize and had chronic ear infections. But she did well in preschool and was deemed ready for kindergarten. Washington-area residents, good at seeing what’s wrong with their schools, can use a reminder of what’s right with them. The Ledfords offer an example.

To build a better teacher, Harvard launches program aimed at quality
As the country debates the best way to improve the quality of teachers in struggling public schools, Harvard University is launching a training program it hopes will serve as a national model. Starting in January, about two dozen Harvard seniors will begin a three-year fellowship designed to combine pedagogy — learning the methods of teaching from experts — with lengthy practice in the classroom under mentor supervision.

Student debt forgiveness could narrow the racial wealth gap
Eliminating student debt for low- to middle-income families could dramatically narrow the racial wealth gap between black and white households, according to a joint study by liberal think tank Demos and the Institute for Assets & Social Policy at Brandeis University.

Los Angeles Times
Editorial
Finding the sweet spot of reason in evaluating schools and teachers
Congress is finally near agreement on the rewrite of No Child Left Behind, which is now in conference committee. The anticipated new version would continue to require annual testing from third through eights grade, and once more in high school. The rewrite would also remove the federal government’s power to pressure states to link teacher evaluations to student test scores, as the Obama administration has done. In fact, there might be no real consequences for schools where relatively few students take the test, which could give districts a perverse incentive to keep low achievers from bring counted.