November 4, 2016

Delaware News

Delaware 105.9
2016 Student Mock Election Convention today at Legislative Hall
America goes to the polls next Tuesday, but today (Friday), thousands of students across Delaware will cast their votes in the First State’s biennial Student Mock Election Day. Student delegates will gather in Legislative hall in Dover at 10 o’clock this (Friday) morning, to reveal their picks for President and Vice President, Governor and all of the statewide offices on Delaware’s ballot this year.

Delaware Public Media
Del Tech may edge out UD professors from high school program
Delaware Technical Community College is potentially severing ties with University of Delaware faculty who help run an accelerated learning program for Sussex County students. The Academic Challenge program began in 1987 and ushers gifted and talented students from southern Delaware through high intensity math and English courses beginning in eighth grade.

Newark Post
Fifth-graders say presidential candidates could learn a few things about respect, civility
Sometimes, it takes kids to show how things should be done. As fourth and fifth-graders at Brader Elementary School stood up in front of their peers to give their student council campaign speeches on Thursday, there were plenty of promises, exclamations of school pride and applause lines. However, there was one thing noticeably missing: the negativity that has plagued the national elections this year. That, teacher Glenda Flowers said, was exactly as it was planned.

Newsworks
Christina School District researches later school start times
Delaware middle and high school students often set their alarms as early as 5 a.m. in order to make their 6:30 a.m. bus and arrive at school around 7 a.m. When they return home from school, by the time they’ve eaten dinner, completed their homework and participated in any after school activities, they may not go to sleep until 11 p.m. or midnight.

The News Journal
Rising to the challenge of diminishing interest in teaching
Opinion by Laura Glass, director of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware, and John Pelesko, associate dean for the Natural Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware
For several years, teacher preparation has been a focus of increased attention at both local and national levels. From the passage of Senate Bill 51 in Delaware, which increased state requirements for teacher preparation programs, to the recently released teacher preparation regulations from the U.S. Department of Education, teacher preparation is a hot topic for policymakers. At the same time, we are witnessing rapidly decreasing enrollments in teacher preparation programs nationwide and a declining interest in the teaching profession among high school students. Delaware is by no means immune to these national challenges.

National News

Chicago Sun Times
CPS’ new charter cap more ‘symbolic victory than actual victory’?
One of the contract provisions most heralded by the Chicago Teachers Union was a cap on the number of charter schools Chicago Public Schools can open as its enrollment declines further and its coffers remain bare. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool also lauded the cap as “prudent” given the district’s tricky finances and diminishing student body.

Governing
Georgia’s plan to take over failing schools faces long odds
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal wants to join a burgeoning movement that would allow a state takeover of chronically failing schools. But with less than a week left before Georgians vote on the proposal, he faces an uphill battle as the track record of takeovers elsewhere has yielded inconsistent results and public opinion appears solidly against the idea.

Idaho Ed News
ESSA draft: Schools to pick their own accountability measure
Local school leaders may get to decide how their school is rated next year. According to Idaho’s new draft plan for complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, educators can choose either student test proficiency or student growth as a way to measure their school’s success. “Both [proficiency and growth] are important,” said State Department of Education chief policy officer Duncan Robb.

NPR
5 reasons schools should measure chronic absence
How do you judge how good a school is? Test scores? Culture? Attendance? In the new federal education law, states are asked to use five measures of student success. The first four are dictated by the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA. Three are related to academics — like annual tests and graduation rates. The fourth measures proficiency of English language learners.