April 21, 2015

April 21st, 2015

Category: News

Delaware News

Test boycott will obscure student progress
Opinion by Deborah T. Wilson, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League; Maria Matos, president and CEO of the Latin American Community Center; and Paul Herdman, president and CEO of the Rodel Foundation of Delaware
As parents, teachers, and community members, we need to know how our kids are doing. Test data tells us which students and schools need extra help; it also gives clues on how we should best spend our public dollars. Therefore, we respectfully disagree with House Bill 50, a bill that would create a process to make the state test optional.

The News Journal
Best choice for children is to opt out of test
Opinion by State Representative Kim Williams, 19th District
I firmly believe that there is a solution to this issue that does not involve more testing. But for that effort to move forward, we need to change the conversation. Opting our children out of this test will help shift the debate.

Delaware Public Media
Colonial School District to redesign its middle schools
The Colonial School District announced Friday that it will redesign its three middle schools around special themes. George Read will offer instruction in Agriculture, Culinary and Business, McCullough will focus on STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art and Math) courses, and Gunning Bedford will be the home of the visual arts and media program.

Cape Gazette
Bill proposes two-year tax increase for Sussex Tech
Sussex County legislators have put together a House Bill that would give Sussex Tech a tax rate increase – but only for two years. In addition, the bill requires Sussex Tech decrease its enrollment by about 300 over the next three years to 1,250 for the 2017-18 school year.

Sussex Tech bailout must bring changes
Editorial
Unlike other districts, Sussex Tech School District does not ask voters to approve a rise in taxes; the rate is set by the legislature. Sussex Tech has been asking legislators to increase taxes for the past two years, saying without an increase this year, the district could be forced to eliminate 48 positions.

WDEL
Brandywine School Board tackles issues with Smarter Balance testing
The Brandywine School Board took critical public comments Monday night about its recent implementation of Smarter Balance testing for schools in the Brandywine District.

Delaware State News
DelTech’s IT ranks fourth in nation
Delaware Technical Community College has ranked fourth nationwide for excellence in information technology in the 2014-15 Digital Community Colleges Survey.

National News

NPR
Anti-test ‘opt out’ movement makes a wave In New York state
Blog by Anya Kamenetz
Across New York state this week, some students are refusing to take a test, and they’re not getting punished for it. The test is the Common Core-aligned, federally mandated test, and students, parents and educators are part of what they’re calling the opt-out movement.

Chronicle of Higher Education
What people think about college: a snapshot of public opinion
Given that the value of college is frequently challenged on multiple fronts these days, interest in how the public regards higher education runs pretty high among its champions. The latest public-opinion poll from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation provides some new data points.

Montpelier Bridge
VT explores merging districts
A bill that would require Vermont’s school districts to examine merging with other districts, set statewide school property tax rates for next year and potentially cap school budgets has passed the House and is currently under intense review in the Senate Education Committee.

The Columbus Dispatch
Graduation rate a rare bright spot in Ohio’s Race to the Top report
Four years and $400 million later, Ohio has met one of five goals for the federal Race to the Top grant program. The state exceeded its target for statewide graduation rates but fell short of reducing achievement gaps for minority students, improving reading and math scores as compared with the best-performing states, and increasing college enrollment.

Education Week
Blended learning research yields limited results
Blended-learning practices have steadily evolved in classrooms, but there is little consensus on what, exactly, the term encompasses. This further hamstrings efforts to build a solid understanding of whether, when, and how the strategy of combining face-to-face instruction with technology-based lessons actually works.




Author:
Rodel Foundation of Delaware

info@rodelfoundationde.org

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