October 26, 2016

Delaware News

Cape Gazette
Every Student Succeeds Act conversation set at Cape Nov. 21
The Delaware Department of Education will host a community conversation from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, Nov 21, to collect public input on the first draft of the state’s plan under the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act. In December 2015, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the main federal law governing public education.

Newsworks
Delaware leaders address the school to prison pipeline
Is there really a school to prison pipeline? If not, then how do so many students of color end up in prison? On Thursday, the Hope Commission and Teach for America Delaware came together to answer those questions as well as discuss the racial disparities in the education and criminal justice systems. “We’ve got to acknowledge there’s this school to prison pipeline. It’s a clear pathway and track that young people are on, just like there’s a track for college preparation, culinary arts, cosmetology, and pre-law, there are some young people on a track toward prison,” said Dr. Malik Muhammad, one of four panelists who addressed the issue.

The News Journal
Two important Delaware school programs we need
Opinion by Dr. Floyd E. McDowell Sr., chair of the nonprofit, nonpartisan DEinformedvoters.org website
Thorough research-proven programs and cost-effective information about two needed programs has been given to the following elected and appointed state education decision-makers: state legislators, governor, his appointed secretary of education and state school board, state PTA and Delaware State Education Association. All have ignored this valuable information I sent them as chair of our Delaware coalition.

Brandywine teacher named Delaware’s ‘Teacher of the Year’
Wendy Turner says that on paper, she shouldn’t even have been one of the 20 finalists for Delaware’s 2017 Teacher of the Year. After starting her career working in a large accounting firm, Turner decided after 13 years to become a teacher. While she says it is her passion, she thought that being a teacher for only six years was not enough. Turner was not only on the main stage with 19 other top teachers from the state, she was named 2017 Delaware Teacher of the Year at the annual banquet at Dover Downs.

National News

Asbury Park Press
Monmouth Co. schools: An education in empathy
Confused and agitated. Those were the feelings of about a dozen third-grade students who were taught a lesson in their Viola L. Sickles School classroom that illustrated a painful point. Half the class, their shirts donned with adhesive name tags, received preferential treatment from Suzanne Duffy, a parent volunteer who read them a book about inclusion and discrimination.

Knoxville News Sentinel
Knox County Schools to hire teacher recruiter
In a push to attract and hire more top teachers, Knox County Schools plans to revamp its website, improve the candidate screening process and hire a recruiter who will work with area colleges to build relationships with their best students. District officials posted the new position, which will likely pay in the mid-$60,000 range, depending on the candidate’s qualifications, early last week.

NPR
How the barber, And other caring adults, help kids succeed
In a working-class city in southeast Michigan there’s a barbershop where kids get a $2 discount for reading a book aloud to their barber. We published a story about Griffin and the shop two weeks ago and ever since they have been overwhelmed with praise, donations and requests for interviews from all over the country … and the world. That left of us wondering why exactly this story went viral. Maybe it’s because Griffin’s sentiment, about helping kids succeed, resonates with a lot of us.

The Economist
School reform will not be a priority for the new president
For a president, making education policy can be like running a school with thousands of unruly pupils. He can goad states and coax school districts, offering gold stars to those who shape up. But if a class is defiant he can do little. Just 12.7% of the $600bn spent on public education annually is spent by the federal government. The rest is split almost equally between states and the 13,500 districts.

The Salt Lake Tribune
More Utah students earning college credit as AP participation expands
More than 25,000 public school students took a combined 38,685 Advanced Placement exams this year, a 6 percent increase in the number of participating Utah students compared with 2015. Test-takers earned a passing score — a three, four or five on a five-point scale — on two-thirds of those exams, which awards college credit to participants in content areas like art history, calculus, English literature and psychology.