The Echo

WEIRD CIRCLE
That is sort of unfair, to complain that only 2% of the Federal budget goes to Education. After all, education is a responsibility that, under our Constitution, has been delegated to the states and is under local control.
Also unfair, however, is leveraging that 2% of the federal budget — about 7% of education outlays overall — and forcing states to comply with unproven methods to transform our schools... http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/31/when-is-federal-intervention-ok/

Candidates

MAHANOY CITY, Pa. — An eastern Pennsylvania high school says vandalism forced it to create a policy in which toilet paper has been taken out of the boys' bathrooms.
Boys at Mahanoy Area High School now must go to the school office to request toilet paper and sign it out. Principal Thomas Smith says that's helped solve a major problem of intentionally clogging toilets that's been going on for two years.

Smith says boys must sign out the toilet paper and then sign it back in. But the Republican-Herald of Pottsville reports some parents are protesting the policy. http://www.delawareonline.com/viewart/20130128/NEWS/130128011/Students-Pa-school-must-ask-toilet-paper
 

• I see the turnout rate is low. Not really a surprise with the DOE and DSEA collaborating with Rodel, trust factor is at an all time low. I am actively telling my building to NOT take it. They will find you.
• Wow, how can any teacher, after taking the TELL survey not think anything other than we are going to be ignored again! I closed out of it halfway through. My union rep knows the truth and that will just have to be good enough for me. No way I’m letting my principal know to her face, that would be instant retaliation and I know for sure the DOE not only cannot help, they do not care

Dear All,

On Thursday evening the Board voted to accept the resignation of Tami Koss, Interim Assiatant School Leader. Tami joined us in a temporary capacity and she has accepted a new, permanent postion at another school. Tami provided me with invaluable assistance during the past few months and I hope you will join me in thanking her for her service to the school and wishing her well in her new endeavor.

The Board has already received contacts from very qualified candidates for the position and we hope to have a repalcement named in the very near future.

Sincerely,

Steven Quimby
School Leader
 

• Our principal is great, he helps us with the parents and defends us when we do the right thing for kids.The kids are a challenge in our school and trying to use Common Core not always the best way to deliver curriculum. The lessons are stale and scripted. Mr. Bedford gives us freedom to craft better plans, so for now everything is OK.
  I also did my survey today online for the state. It was not very pertinent to my duties.
• I like my PLC on the off weeks from the data coach. I think we get to help kids more when it’s just us teachers doing the planning. the data coach asks us to review old data for things we have already completed with the kids. Usually, it’s a waste of our time.
• We learned a long time ago to be self sufficient. That TELL Delaware survey isn’t going to help us, no matter what the DSEA or the DOE say.

TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning) Delaware will be open to all school-based, licensed educators - including administrators. By Jan. 22, every school will receive a packet of letters that contains the individual seven-digit, anonymous access codes for educators in the school. These will be sent to each school's representative with the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA), the state's largest school employee union. For buildings without union representation, the packets will be sent to the principals. Principals and DSEA representatives then will distribute the letters randomly at a faculty meeting.  http://www.doe.k12.de.us/news/2013/0108.shtml

 

Seventh and 8th grade English-learners in selected urban schools will soon dive into some of the most celebrated speeches in U.S. history. They'll dissect, for example, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream," and Robert F. Kennedy's "On the Death of Martin Luther King." Education Week

 Called "Persuasion Across Time and Space," the five-lesson unit is the first major classroom resource produced by the Understanding Language team, a group of English-language-learner experts led by Kenji Hakuta, an education professor at Stanford University, to help educators grasp the central role of language in the rigorous Common Core State Standards and to give teachers resources for providing higher levels of instruction and demanding content to ELL students.
The efforts are underwritten by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (Carnegie and Gates help support coverage of business and innovation in Education Week.)  Education Week

More HERE

The Common Core effort has prompted concerns about the cost of implementing the new standards and assessments, especially in states that have historically spent very little on their tests. Unfortunately, there is little comprehensive up-to-date information on the costs of assessment systems currently in place throughout the country. This report seeks to fill this void by providing the most current, comprehensive evidence on state-level costs of assessment systems, based on new data gathered from state contracts with testing vendors.
 

We find that the 45 states from which we obtained data spend a combined $669 million per year on their primary assessment contracts, or $27 per pupil in grades 3-9, with six testing vendors accounting for 89 percent of this total.
 

• The cost of standardized testing for grades 3 - 9 in the 45 jurisdictions studied averages out to $65 per student. 
• In 2001, The Pew Center found that Delaware led the pack with assessment spending at $44 per student. (p.4)
• Today, Delaware ranks 4th behind D.C., Hawaii, and Alaska at $73/student.
• In 2012, Delaware spent just over $5 million to test $70,000 students.
• Delaware's contracted test-maker, ARI, has a 9 % market share.

• New admission requirements for those looking to enter the teaching field.
• "Teaching is a demanding profession, and our admissions requirements for teacher preparation programs should reflect this. Secretary Murphy will be working with our universities to strengthen the standards for entry into the teaching profession."  J.M.
• Creation of a rigorous exit assessment for new teachers before entering the field.
• "We also need a rigorous exit assessment for our preparation programs, which includes demonstration of content knowledge as well as teaching skills."  J.M.
• Formally create, fund, and implement Teacher Leader roles to allow good teachers to continue to move up the career ladder while remaining in the classroom (as opposed to the current system of advancement that moves teachers from the classroom to administration.)
• " Teachers like John should be formally recognized as Teacher Leaders – role models in their schools who have demonstrated their abilities, are ready to help other teachers, and earn more for putting their experience to work in the classroom. I ask that the General Assembly work with me to formally create this role, with the prestige and compensation it deserves." J.M.
• Restructure the teacher pay system
• "I ask that the General Assembly work with me to re-examine that pay structure so we can incentivize teaching in high-need schools and critical subjects, raise starting teacher pay, and reward teacher leadership." J.M. 
• Common application for charter and choice
• "I propose that we create a best-in-class information system on Delaware’s schools that provides a clear picture of the different strengths in each school. I also propose that we give parents the option of a common application to make it easier to apply to multiple schools." J.M.
• Enhance the system of lifelong learning necessary to achieve and maintain employment.  This one is target to the current and upcoming workforce. 
• "Once workers have completed the training they need to fill in-demand jobs, we should make sure that employers know it, by providing these workers with a Career Readiness Certificate that employers respect and trust."  J.M.
• Shorten the timeline from five years to two for the implementation of school safety plans per the 2012 Omnibus School Safety Act.
• "I ask the General Assembly to work with me so that every Delaware school has an up-to-date school safety plan within two years." J.M.
• Increase mental health personnel in middle schools.
• " I ask the General Assembly to address this need. I propose a ten-fold increase in the number of trained, front line mental health personnel in our middle schools." J.M.
• Enroll 24 Delaware drop-outs in a residential National Guard Program in concert with Maryland to lead them back to the degree track.
• " Through education and mentoring from Guard members, the program targets young people who can get back on a path to a degree and a rewarding life and career. And because Maryland has all of the necessary facilities and because the Department of Defense picks up 75 percent of the cost, this is a very cost-effective way to serve these young people." J.M.

• Who ordered the signs?
• Who translated them?
• Who installed them?
• Who paid for them?
• And from where did those funds come?
• Have any complaints been registered in the year + since these signs were installed?
• And from whom were spanish-speaking park-goers supposed to seek permission?