October 4, 2016

Delaware News

Delaware 105.9
Smokey Bear to visit Delaware schools this month
Smokey Bear will be back in Delaware schools this month, visiting first-graders throughout the First State to remind children that “only you can prevent wildfires.” October is a time to highlight fire prevention and safety because the second week (next week) is National Fire Prevention Week, observed annually in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Department of Education
20 nominated for 2017 Delaware Teacher of the Year
Press Release
One of 20 local teachers of the year will be named Delaware’s Teacher of the Year for 2017. Selected from among the 9,000 public school teachers in the state, the nominees each represent one of the state’s 19 school districts and network of charter schools. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the annual awards banquet. The reception begins at 5 p.m. at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino in Dover.

Delaware Public Media
Indian River School District announces tax vote in November
The Indian River School District will try to raise $7.4 million in a new tax referendum in November. District officials say the average taxpayer’s bill will increase by about $95 a year should it pass. The bulk of the increase would go toward hiring more teachers and paraprofessionals to accommodate strong enrollment growth over the past six years.

Newark Post
Keene Elementary School unveils outdoor classroom
Third-grade teacher Laura Hill was struggling to get her students to grasp the concept of ecosystems and the interdependence of plants and animals as they sat behind desks inside her classroom at Keene Elementary School. They were learning about how a natural environment functions, but they weren’t able to physically see how the animals outside depend on the water and plants to survive.

Rodel Blog
Key questions and valuable resources on ESSA
On Dec. 10, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law. ESSA is the most recent version of the federal government’s biggest K-12 law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which came into effect in 1965. It governs around $25 billion in federal resources that are allocated to states, including approximately $58 million to Delaware in 2012-13.

The Harrington Journal
I Love Lake Forest Day includes free rides, games
Students and faculty alike are easily a month into the new school year and the district wants to help rev up excitement. The eighth annual I love Lake Forest Day will take place Saturday, Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lake Forest High School and Central Business Office campus in Felton. “We are hoping to see all our Lake Forest families and community members participate in this event,” Superintendent Dr. Brenda G. Wynder said.

The News Journal
Labor Secretary tours Delaware job training programs
Jorge Tinoco is applying the welding skills he’s learning at Delcastle Technical High School to his $10-an-hour job at R.C. Fabricators in Wilmington. A few blocks away, Carina Blair is getting a crash course in coding that could lead to a $65,000-a-year job. Tinoco, 17, and Blair, 21, are just two of the people U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez met Monday during a tour of local job training and apprenticeship programs in Delaware.

National News

Chalkbeat
Preschools that implement parent training show better outcomes for students
A family-intervention program implemented in some New York City preschools has been proven to prevent emotional and behavioral issues in children — and improve academic skills — according to research published Monday in the online edition of JAMA Pediatrics.

Education Week
Who had the best education record as governor: Kaine or Pence?
Tuesday night, Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, and Tim Kaine, the former governor and current senator from Virginia, will mix it up in the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va.  As governors, both Kaine and Pence were big believers in career and technical education.

Newsworks
Philadelphia area economic recovery leaving suburban children in its wake
Sunny census data released last month hides some dark numbers about child poverty in the Philadelphia suburbs. Thousand more kids in Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware and Chester counties are living in poverty than at the beginning of the Great Recession, according to a new report from an area child welfare non-profit.

The Journal
California law expands K–12 computer science education
Earlier this week, the governor of California signed a bill into law that aligns with the White House’s Computer Science for All (CSforAll) initiative. Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2329, initiating a three-year planning process to bring computer science curriculum to every grade in California’s public schools.

The Washington Post
On-time high school graduation rate in Virginia tops 91 percent
More than 90 percent of Virginia’s high school Class of 2016 graduated on time, the highest rate recorded since the state changed how it tracks high school graduations nearly a decade ago. The on-time graduation rate rose from 90.5 percent last year to 91.3 percent this year, continuing an upward trend since the state started keeping more accurate data in 2008, keeping closer tabs on transfer students and dropouts who were sometimes miscategorized in state data.