October 17, 2014

Local News

The News Journal
Priority Schools discussion slows in districts
The state’s two largest school districts are defiantly tapping the brakes on a plan to turn around six Wilmington schools with some of the state’s lowest test scores, saying they want to take their time to bring teachers and parents on board. The Department of Education is pressing for urgency, explaining that children in these schools urgently need change and that districts need to begin planning now so that they have time to for the overhaul to take effect.

Delaware colleges waive application fees
Delaware’s colleges will waive application fees for in-state students who apply during the state’s College Application Month, which started this week and runs through Nov. 21. This year, every high school in the state is participating in College Application Month, which allows students to apply for colleges during the school day.

White House official visits, lauds Prestige Academy
David Johns, executive director of the White House Initiative on Education Excellence for African Americans, visited Prestige Academy in Wilmington. He is crossing the country spreading the word about My Brother’s Keeper, President Barack Obama’s effort to improve education and workforce training for young black men.

WDDE
Red Clay school board holds off on Priority Schools decision
District Superintendent Merv Daugherty strongly encouraged the school board to try and move more quickly on the MOU for Priority Schools, saying that it wasn’t fair to make parents and teachers wait until the last minute to learn what changes would be coming from the state Department of Education at the the schools targeted in Red Clay. “We have a lot of support,” Daugherty said, “but they’re still federal guidelines.” The Board appeared divided on how to handle the situation. Board Member Cathy Thompson also encouraged signing the MOU, saying they had little control and should cooperate with the state plan. Board Member Adriana Bohm said she didn’t want to negotiate from a place of fear.

Middletown Transcript
Student enrollment at Appoquinimink School District schools continues to increase
Growth at Appoquinimink District schools continued for the 11th year in a row. District-wide enrollment increased by 127 students to 9,877 in 2014, a jump of 1.3 percent over the 2013 unit count.

Coastal Point
John M. Clayton beat the odds, wins national award
Just three Delaware schools were named 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools, including Frankford’s own John M. Clayton Elementary School. JMC, Lake Forest North Elementary and the Academy of Dover charter school and are among the 337 schools that will be officially honored in November in Washington, D.C. The award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools whose students achieve at very high levels or have made significant improvements in students’ levels of achievement or who have beat the odds.

Delaware Department of Education
Five districts, charter win state communication grants
A press release
The Delaware Department of Education has awarded six grants to five districts and a charter school to support communication with families about the transition to the state’s new assessment. Each submitted a proposal of how it would use funds to better inform parents and guardians about the state’s Smarter English Language Arts and Smarter Mathematics assessments, which students will take for the first time this spring.

National News

Staten Island Advance
Special education complaints from teachers on the rise, report says
According to a report in Chalkbeat New York, the number of special education complaints made by New York City teachers and professionals during the fall of 2013 was up 60 percent from the year before. There were more than 150 complaints related to special education that were filed citywide with the United Federation of Teachers last fall, which the union then reported to the Department of Education, the website reported.

Chicago Sun-Times
White students no longer majority in public schools in Illinois
For the first time in Illinois, white students no longer constitute the majority of public school students, the Illinois State Board of Education said Wednesday. And the percentage of students considered low-income has surpassed the halfway mark, according to the agency.

eSchool News
Coding with the kindergarten crowd
Introducing coding to kindergarten students helps them reflect on their own learning as they develop 21st-century skills such as problem solving and creativity, experts say. Coding has emerged as one of the most popular learning trends in recent years, and when it comes to programming, young students are proving just as capable as older students.

The Oregonian
Portland Public Schools won’t file state-required ‘achievement compacts’ in Common Core-tested subjects
The Portland School Board has voted not to set state-mandated achievement targets in three subject areas linked to the state’s new Common Core-aligned tests. Oregon law requires school districts to file the yearly “achievement compacts” outlining the districts’ goals in areas such as state test success rates, student attendance and graduation rates.

Chalkbeat Indiana
Indiana delays release of A to F school grades
Indiana State Board of Education members shelved today’s planned release of A to F grades for all Indiana schools after a sharp debate which included criticism of whether state Superintendent Glenda Ritz and her lieutenants properly screened the data for errors. A mistake in the data that was brought to light at the state board meeting affected about five of more than 2,100 schools, but board members decided they wanted an outside review to double check the grades before approving them and making them public.

New Jersey Advanced Media
N.J. Senate passes five bills to expand vocational education
The state Senate today sent several bills to Gov. Chris Christie that would expand the state’s vocational school programs. The bills are sponsored by state Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson), a plumber and code inspector who after becoming speaker in January said he would make providing alternative career paths to college a priority.