October 24, 2016

Delaware News

Coastal Point
Cadet Program to start off at Millsboro Middle School
Volunteerism is on the downswing at fire companies across the nation, and the Roxana Volunteer Fire Company is beginning a new Cadet Program for all local children. They’ll kickstart it with an eight-week class at Millsboro Middle School. Starting this fall, anyone ages 10 to 14 can join Roxana’s Cadet Program. The program is designed to expose kids to the world of firefighting on a regular basis, so when they come of age, they know what to expect and are excited about the role they can play. But a new daily class at Millsboro Middle School would serve as a feeder program to the Cadet Program.

Delaware State News
Taking the beat to the Far East: Dover High Rolling Thunder to perform in Japan
The precision of Dover High School’s percussion unit is no secret, considering their drum cadences routinely boom off the walls of storefronts and buildings down Loockerman Street during parades. Now, 15 members of Dover’s drumline will get a chance to show off their stick work in Japan in the summer of 2017 after the Capital School District Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of their trip at its monthly meeting last Tuesday night.

Harrington Journal
Students take anti-bully message to town
To help drive home the idea that bullying is unacceptable, Lake Forest North Elementary School students went for a walk on Tuesday morning. A Bully Walk. “The Bully Walk was the culmination of a series of class assignments that discussed bullying, its effect on the victim, why bullying is unacceptable and what to do if you or someone you know are being bullied.”

The News Journal
After Howard death, panel calls for more school officers
A panel of state leaders has called upon Delaware to invest more in resource officers and other programs to halt violence in schools at a time when education advocates argue schools have never been safer.

Strategies for increasing safety in our public schools
Opinion by Sen. Robert Marshall a Democrat representing the Third Senatorial District
After several public meetings and “listening sessions” around the state, the “special committee on school safety,” has reported its findings and recommendations to the governor, the General Assembly, and the public. It is abundantly clear that we are not going to be able to solve the problems of violence in our schools with a “top down approach.”  We need to involve everyone, especially students and parents, in finding solutions.

Pulaski Elementary evacuates moldy rooms
Pulaski Elementary School, still reeling from mold issues, has evacuated rooms revealed by continued testing to be affected by spores. The Christina school board was well aware Pulaski was suffering mold problems when members met Tuesday night, but a district facilities manager reported three rooms not originally marked for concern still had problems. Teachers in attendance and at least one school board member thought Pulaski should be temporarily closed.

Sussex County Post
Long Neck Elementary math teacher finalist for prestigious award
An educator in the Indian River School District is in the running for national acclaim. Christa Ferdig, a fifth-grade mathematics at Long Neck Elementary School, is a finalist for the 2016 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. She is one of four Delaware teachers – two in math and two in science – who are this year’s 2016 PAEMST finalists for Delaware, earning a chance to become a 2016 math or science awardee later this year.

National News

Governing
In need of education funding, states look to customers and corporations
Public education was one of the biggest casualties of the Great Recession. Nearly a decade since it started, nearly half of states are still providing less general funding for schools than they were the year the economy tanked. Two states, however, are asking voters to boost education funding this fall — but they differ on who should pay for it: customers or corporations.

Bismark Tribune
National School Lunch Program serving up healthier fare
U.S. school lunch guidelines introduced a few years ago are improving students’ eating habits, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed data on the National School Lunch Program, which was enacted in 2012 to provide students with more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat milk.

Inside Higher Education
Quality and competency
A group of colleges that offer competency-based education programs this week released a draft set of voluntary quality standards for the emerging form of higher education. Competency-based education is growing rapidly, with as many as 600 colleges seeking to create new programs. The standards, which the Competency-Based Education Network released at a meeting here, seek to influence the newcomers while also holding established programs accountable.

NPR
How we teach English Learners: 3 basic approaches
There are 5 million students like Rosario — English Language Learners or ELLs — living in the U.S., and we’re going to spend much of the next year reporting on them. They raise one of the biggest questions facing educators: What’s the best way to teach English without losing time on the content students need to learn? Decades of research point to three basic instructional models.

WAMU 88.5
To help combat truancy, D.C. schools are turning to a smartphone app
When 8th grader Melvin Holloway opens up an app on his phone, he can see if his classmates have checked in at school that morning. If they haven’t, he can send them a message. “I could send them, ‘Where are you at?’ ‘Are you coming in?’ ‘Missed you today,’ or ‘Don’t let us down,’” he explains. Holloway is one of the thousands of public and charter school students in the District who is part of Show Up, Stand Out, a D.C. government-funded program fighting absenteeism in the city’s schools. On Thursday, Show Up, Stand Out a smartphone app which combines game play, competition and social networking to compel 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to make school a priority. Students are divided into teams, and can earn prizes based on their group attendance, which they track using the app.