October 15, 2014

Local News

The News Journal
Delaware using survey to make kindergarten smarter
Delaware schools are starting to implement a new tool in kindergarten classes called the Delaware Early Learner Survey. State officials hope the surveys will allow teachers to more specifically pinpoint where students’ weaknesses are so they, and the children’s parents, can be smarter about how to help them.

It is time for everyone to support Wilmington’s schools
An op-ed by James M. Baker, former Mayor, City of Wilmington
Business as usual in these schools is no longer acceptable for our children. We need to demand better. We need to demand the resources and personnel that can turn this story around. We know the right set of resources and personnel can make a difference. We see success stories every day at schools like Lewis Elementary, Howard High School, Kuumba Academy, and East Side, all of which have similar student bodies, but have shown radically better results.

National News

The Christian Science Monitor
Three states take lead on Common Core, but are they moving too fast?
New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington are starting to link graduation requirements to the new and more challenging Common Core testing systems. But an array of critics say the process is moving way too fast.

The New York Times
Web-era trade schools, feeding a need for code
A new educational institution, the coding boot camp, is quietly emerging as the vocational school for the digital age, devoted to creating software developers.

The Hechinger Report
New research suggests repeating elementary school grades – even kindergarten – is harmful
The already muddy research on whether it’s better to hold back struggling students or promote them to the next grade just got muddier. A new study adds more weight to those who say retention is ultimately harmful.

Shreveport Times
Preschool funding application approved by Bobby Jindal
A dispute over the Common Core education standards won’t sideline Louisiana’s application for up to $15 million in federal grant money for pre-kindergarten programs.

Education Week
Often foes, some districts and charters forge partnerships
Florida is wading into largely uncharted waters with an initiative to fuel collaboration between two sectors often cast as foes in the debate over how to improve K-12 education: regular public schools and charters. Nationwide, districts from Los Angeles to Denver to Baltimore have sought to forge such ties, but Florida’s effort is unusual in being led by the state.

Eyeing possible sucessors for head of Senate ed. panel
No matter which party comes out ahead in the Nov. 4 congressional elections, the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will have a new leader.