Posts Tagged ‘Delaware General Assembly’

Daily Education News – 6/4/13

Posted by rodel

Here are several stories in today’s news about Delaware education and from across the nation:

Local News

The News Journal
School district paraprofessionals fight for their jobs
Paraprofessionals in the Brandywine School District facing layoffs at the end of the year pleaded for their jobs during a school board meeting Monday night in another chapter of the statewide drama over education budget cuts. “These positions are very important to students,” said Karen Kennedy, president of the union that represents Brandywine’s paraprofessionals. “This is a serious loss to this district.” District officials empathized, but said they don’t have an alternative. “I’m not happy in this position, either. This is the worst part of my job,” said Superintendent Mark Holodick. “If these people didn’t bring value to our students, we wouldn’t have hired them. But we simply don’t have a choice.”

Charters focus of House legislation
A bill that would toughen oversight of charter schools would also award more money to charters with proven track records. The bill’s supporters say it will help successful charters grow while holding them more responsible, but some critics worry it could take resources from traditional public schools. They also say some of the oversight measures don’t go far enough. Gov. Jack Markell supports the bill and says it mixes measures to better hold charters accountable with efforts to give them more ability to succeed.

Cape Gazette
Cape school board continues elementary school discussion
Cape Henlopen school board focused on the bigger picture for the district’s future elementary schools after weeks of discussing possibly reconfiguring the Milton schools. “We need to discuss the fifth school that could draw from and thin out our other schools,” said board member Jen Burton during the May 23 board meeting.

WDDE
New law revamps school choice program
Governor Markell was at Newark’s Forest Oak Elementary School Monday to sign a bill streamlining the process students use to apply to a school different than the one they are assigned. The new law standardizes School Choice applications and deadlines statewide. The bill’s primary sponsor State Rep. Kim Williams says complaints from the parents spurred her effort require those changes. “Once I started reviewing the policies of the different districts, I noticed that there was inconsistencies throughout the state,” said Williams. “There is the law, but then each district had their own policy so it’s hard for parents to follow.” In addition to making the program easier to navigate, Williams expect the law to eliminate discrimination in the process by limiting the information the school districts can gather. The law prevents districts from asking for an applicant’s grades or DCAS testing scores.

Colonial School District holds second vote on operating referendum
Residents in the Colonial School District vote again today on a budget referendum. The district’s wants to raise taxes an additional 35 cents per $100 of assessed property value to add $9.6 million to its operating budget. Officials say the district currently faces a $6 million deficit. Colonial superintendent Dorothy Linn previously said if this referendum fails the district will be forced to eliminate 84 jobs, including 59 teachers. Summer school, the Chinese language immersion program and middle school and ninth grade sports would also be on the chopping block. Even if approved, Colonial officials expected to cut 16-27 staff members, including 8-12 teachers.

National News

The New York Times
Trade Schools offer hope for rural migrants in China
When he was 14, Li Yangyang’s prospects were grim. A middle school graduate who moved to Beijing with his parents from the countryside in 2009, he worked long hours in a restaurant for less than 700 renminbi a month. Then a fellow rural migrant, who had also moved to Beijing, introduced him to BN Vocational School, China’s first tuition-free, nonprofit vocational secondary school. For those like Mr. Li, the children of China’s 200 million migrant laborers, vocational schools offer the promise of better-paying, more stable work than their parents had. While China has long had state-run vocational schools, critics say that they are bogged down by bureaucracy and overwhelmed by the huge number of youths who need training.

Education Week
Into the Common Core: one classroom’s journey
As an English/language arts teacher in the common-core era, Ms. McNair-Lee is part of a huge national push to turn millions of students into strong readers and writers. In its second year of K-12 implementation in literacy, the District of Columbia is farther along than many in putting the standards into practice. But it also faces long odds as it works to help its largely disadvantaged student population master them.

Associated Press
Bill allows students to take more online courses
A South Carolina Senate committee advanced S.B 3752, which would remove the limits of three online credit hours per year and 12 toward a high school diploma for 7th-12th graders. The program was designed to help students who have fallen behind to graduate and increase access for students in rural schools. But the current law’s three-credit limit may prevent students from recovering the credits they need to catch up.

State of the State: Governor Markell Remains Dedicated to Education

Posted by Melissa Hopkins

On January 19th, Governor Markell gave his annual State of the State address to the General Assembly.   This speech provides an opportunity to gauge the priorities of the executive branch, and this year Governor Markell did not disappoint.   He noted a continued commitment to supporting business and bringing jobs to Delaware, attracting and keeping business through an investment in infrastructure, addressing the health care needs of the state, and to providing a quality public education system.  The value of a strong education system is clearly not lost on our governor as it prepares the workforce for the future and also provides a significant draw for existing companies to relocate to our state.

In terms of education initiatives there were a number of highlights from the 2012 State of the State:

  • Moving forward with the Performance Appraisal System (DPAS II), with its focus on student progress.
  • The World Language Expansion Initiative began with the requirement to take a foreign language to qualify for graduation, but also creates language immersion programs in twenty schools statewide over the next five years.
  • Follow through on commitments to early childhood educations, as outlined in the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge application which includes training for early child care professionals, improved teaching and learning tools, monitoring of programs to learn from the successes and challenges, and finally a new kindergarten assessment.

It has been said that Delaware is a national leader based on its plan for improving the state’s education system and the subsequent award of the Race to the Top grant in 2010 and the Early Learning Challenge – Race to the Top grant in January 2012.  We’ve made great strides as a state in planning, and Governor Markell acknowledged, “I realize there are those who are uncomfortable with the changes that are being made and that not all of these changes will work exactly as intended on day one.”  As the details of some complex and important initiatives are being ironed out – such as DPAS II and the kindergarten assessment design—we remain committed to forging ahead without letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Delaware Wins Early Learning Challenge Grant!

Posted by Madeleine Bayard

We are pleased to announce that Delaware was selected as a recipient of the federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grant!  Delaware is one of nine states to be awarded a grant out of 37 total applicants.  The U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly announced the winning applications on December 16.  Delaware’s grant of $49.9 million will be implemented during 2012-2015, allowing for a twelve-fold increase in the number of high-need children with access to high quality early childhood education.

With the help of significant participation and support from a range of stakeholders in the early childhood and K-12 sectors, Delaware crafted a high quality application that crosses state agencies and includes many partners.  The Early Learning Challenge is an unprecedented opportunity for Delaware to build on the momentum from Governor Markell’s recent $22 million investment in early childhood and the state’s K-12 Race to the Top win to accelerate programs and initiatives that will lead to profound improvements in early learning.

Delaware’s application focuses on supporting the “whole child” needs of young children and their families, building a professional and effective workforce and strengthening Stars to drive high-quality programming.  It also creates a unique opportunity to execute policies within a birth to age 8 framework that aligns the early childhood and K-12 systems.

Here are several examples of how children, families, educators and programs will benefit from Delaware’s Early Learning Challenge grant:

  • In Delaware, the “readiness gap” will be reduced and more children will enter school prepared for kindergarten due to a higher-quality service providers and strong collaboration between the early childhood and K-12 sectors.
  • In the next three years, the number of programs participating in Stars will increase from 140 to nearly 1,000.
  • Early childhood educators will benefit from enhanced compensation that will help recruit educators to high-need programs, supplement salaries for those who advance professionally, and retain effective educators.
  • The Kids Department will double its annual capacity to provide mental health consultation services to early care and education programs statewide.
  • Families will benefit from improved communication about Stars, the importance of program quality, and how to access services for their young children.

With a strong foundation in place and added support from the Early Learning Challenge, it is the hope that Delaware will become a national model for an outstanding early childhood system.  Congratulations and thank you to DSCYF, DOE, DHSS and all of the stakeholders and partners who contributed to the application or submitted letters of support!

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