September 2, 2014
Local News
WDDE
Class in session at the Community Education Building
Lunching in a mahogany-paneled cafeteria where top MBNA and Bank of America executives once dined and enjoying recess in a sun-soaked 200-foot-long atrium, the students at Kuumba Academy and Academia Antonia Alonso are partaking of an educational experience unlike any other in Delaware, taking classes in a nine-story high-rise formerly occupied by one of the nation’s premier credit card banking operations.
WHYY NewsWorks
Moyer Academy could be closed by Delaware’s education secretary
The academically troubled Moyer Academy in Wilmington is on a path to be closed at the end of the current school year. Following an internal vote, the state charter accountability committee announced on Friday that they recommend closing the Moyer Academy at the end of the 2014-15 school year. The committee cited poor academic performance at the school, which enrolls students in grades 6-12.
The News Journal
Schools want your help preparing kids for college
As the state gears up to spread its College Application Month program statewide this year, every Delaware high school is looking for volunteers to help mentor students. College Application Month is part of the state’s push to enroll more students in college or workforce training in the face of studies warning that too few Delawareans are getting the training they’ll need after high school for the jobs of the future.
Is teacher education up to Common Core requirements?
An op-ed by Frank B. Murray, H. Rodney Sharp Professor, School of Education, University of Delaware
As part of its site-visit of teacher education programs seeking accreditation across the country, the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), whose system was designed incidentally at the University of Delaware and is now part of the new Council of the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) in Washington, D.C., often asked faculty and students at 200 institutions about the degree to which various teacher responses to a student comment exemplified their program’s goals and philosophy.
Job Corps’ early access to job skills for young people
An op-ed by Thomas E. Perez, United States Secretary of Labor
At 125 centers in 48 states, students get the skills and confidence necessary to succeed in good jobs in more than 100 occupations – from auto maintenance to information technology, health care to hospitality, and construction to culinary arts. Not only does Job Corps provide work-based learning and on-the-job training, but kids who haven’t completed high school can earn their diploma or GED. Job Corps also teaches discipline, teamwork, leadership, communication and problem solving – skills increasingly essential to success not only at work, but in life.
My college education left me unprepared for the workforce
An op-ed by Casey Ark, columnist, The Patriot News
When I graduated from Penn State a year ago, I thought I was perfectly prepared to succeed in the business world. I’d worked hard, graduated at the top of my class in computer science and managed to acquire lots of experience with the sorts of industry software that I was sure hiring managers were looking for. I’d even chosen a STEM degree, which — according to just about everyone — is the smartest choice to plan for the future (8 out of the 10 fastest-growing job occupations in the U.S. are STEM jobs). I felt like the job market was mine for the taking. I was very, very wrong.
An artistic creative solution for Wilmington
An op-ed by Guillermina Gonzalez, Executive Director, Delaware Arts Alliance
In finding solutions to revitalize Wilmington, let us offer one that has proven results in other places: creative placemaking where the arts play a pivotal role. Used strategically to foster economic development, the arts will help the Wilmington community as well as other communities in the state rebuild and attract new residents and businesses looking for creative and vibrant locations to call home.
Class Notes: IEP improvement task force meets Thursday in Dover
IEP improvement task force meets Thursday in Dover; Caesar Rodney gets new website; Red Clay School District offers “mini-grants” for projects; Local group wins national video contest
One more example why education is a disaster
A letter to the editor by Richard Lamb, Kennett Square, PA
Regarding “Breakfast at school increases appetite for learning,” by Mark Murphy, Patricia Beebe and Paula Angelucci (Thurs.), one might wonder what reservoir of data/knowledge the above authors consulted before writing this column? Certainly not a ‘tome’ on human physiology.
Schools are safe, so nix the scary drills
An op-ed by James Alan Fox, Lipman Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy, Northeastern University
Although well-intentioned, active shooter drills – introduced after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado, and more prevalent after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting spree in Newtown, Connecticut – can do more harm than good. It is questionable whether children are indeed better prepared by participating in such charades. The downside is in needlessly scaring impressionable youngsters and reinforcing the notion that they are in constant danger.
Adjunct professors fight for crumbs on college campuses
An editorial by Colman McCarthy, former editorial writer and columnist, Washington Post
Until salaries at the top are trimmed and those at the bottom are raised, the demeaning of adjuncts is little more than structural economic violence. For strapped adjuncts with no off-campus income, a solution is to replace a minimum wage with a living wage – say, $15,000 a course plus benefits. Where would the money come from? Start with cuts to presidential salaries, which are at all-time highs. Meanwhile, the loan debts of students – the pre-unemployed – soar.
Cape Gazette
Cape Henlopen student enrollment rising
More students than ever will enter Cape Henlopen schools Sept. 2 as the new school year begins. Enrollment has increased at all schools, district officials say. “It’s the largest freshman class at Cape, ever,” said Superintendent Robert Fulton. “It’s scary, but exciting scary.”
Coastal Point
Haley’s legacy included teaching grants for employees
Many teachers have reached into their own pockets for the benefit of students, whether for school supplies or another need. Restaurateur Matt Haley wanted to ease that pressure and did so recently with a $500 grant for each of his 15 employees who teach during the year. Haley, who was killed as the result of a motorcycle crash while on a humanitarian mission in India on Monday, Aug. 18, had recently announced the Matt Haley Companies’ (MHC’s) Teacher Fund, designed to support all teachers who work part- or full-time for MHC.
National News
ABC News
Texas school funding still unconstitutional
A judge declared Texas’ school finance system unconstitutional for a second time Thursday, finding that even though the Legislature pumped an extra $3 billion-plus into classrooms last summer, the state still fails to provide adequate funding or distribute it fairly among wealthy and poor areas.
NPR StateImpact
Florida ready to challenge federal testing rules for students learning English
Gov. Rick Scott is ready to take the federal government to court over testing rules for students learning English. Scott said Education Commissioner Pam Stewart will send a letter asking the U.S. Department of Education to reconsider testing rules for students learning English. If they don’t change their mind in 30 days, Scott said the state could go to court.
Bloomberg News
Shop class not for slackers as mechanic out-earns peers
With schools focused on preparing kids for college, shop class has gone the way of stenography class in much of the U.S. Companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Siemens AG and International Business Machines Corp. are pushing high schools to graduate students with the real-world skills business needs. The message is getting through. This year, for the first time in a decade, the U.S. government boosted funding for high school and college vocational education, though the $1.125 billion war chest is $188 million smaller than it was in 2004.
Education Week
‘Grit’ may not spur creative success, scholars say
In the ongoing education debate on the importance of talent and practice, new studies presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual conference here last week suggest grit may not do as much to boost creative achievement as it does for academics.
Oculus Rift fueling new vision for virtual reality in K-12
After decades of false starts and unkept promises, makers of virtual-reality technology could soon be ready to give students a new and potentially powerful way to learn. In March, the social-media giant Facebook paid a whopping $2 billion to acquire Oculus VR, the Irvine, Calif.-based startup behind a new virtual-reality headset known as the Oculus Rift. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described Oculus’ device as a “new communications platform,” akin to personal computers and mobile devices, that could have similarly far-reaching implications for gaming, entertainment, social networking, and classroom learning.
New York Times
The new history wars
An op-ed by James R. Grossman, Executive Director, American Historical Association
Last month, the College Board released a revised “curriculum framework” to help high school teachers prepare students for the Advanced Placement test in United States history. Like the college courses the test is supposed to mirror, the A.P. course calls for a dialogue with the past — learning how to ask historical questions, interpret documents and reflect both appreciatively and critically on history.