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DELAWARE COLLEGES SAY SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENTS ARE GOOD MEASURE OF COLLEGE READINESS

Dover– Four institutions of higher education in Delaware—the University of Delaware,  Delaware Technical Community College, Delaware State University and Wilmington University—all have said students’ scores on the state’s new 11th grade Smarter Assessments are a good measure of college readiness and will be accepted in lieu of a separate placement test, Gov. Jack Markell announced today.   High school juniors started taking the Smarter English language arts (ELA) and Smarter Mathematics assessments Monday and all students will complete them before June 4. The colleges’ decisions mean that students who score 3 or better on the tests’ 4-point scale now will

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Local Unit Elections

We are approaching election time for local PTA units in Delaware. Once your PTA has held elections, please submit an updated officers’ roster ASAP. You can submit the roster online using our electronic submission form or download the pdf and send it into the state office. Both options are available under the forms library on our website at https://delawarepta.org/running-your-pta-4/running-your-pta-2/ Please Note: If your PTA’s officers are continuing a two year term, you still must submit the Officers & Chairs Report. Questions? Contact Delaware PTA at de_office@pta.org

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This email is being sent on behalf of Marques Ivey, Chair, National PTA Bylaws and Policy Committee

  The National PTA Board of Directors has approved the proposed bylaws revision submitted by the Bylaws and Policy Committee. The proposed bylaws document and additional supporting materials can be found athttp://www.pta.org/bylaws. Included on the site are the following materials: Current National PTA Bylaws Proposed National PTA Bylaws Revision Proposed Amendments to National PTA’s Articles of Incorporation Cross Reference Document that highlights the Proposed Bylaws changes Image Highlighting the Alignment of National PTA’s Governing Documents Please feel free to share the materials with your membership and use this video at your state PTA Conventions or state Board meetings. Download the video here: http://tbf.me/a/ByEoNq. Additional documents

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Hot Topic: Standardized Testing

  http://www.metrokids.com/MetroKids/April-2015/Hot-Topic-Standardized-Testing/ The debate around the PSSA, the PARCC and the Smarter Balanced Assessment By Terri Akman and Ilene Laurel Fill in the blank: Which of these opinions about standardized tests do you most agree with? (Find the Quote Key at the bottom of this page.) “Too much time is devoted to test-taking strategies. That’s not actual education, so it seems pointless. And who hasn’t seen the local stories about principals and teachers ‘helping’ students (aka cheating)? I don’t think these tests accurately gauge where students truly are academically.” 2. “Standardized tests are related to the federal mandate of No Child Left

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Every Child Achieves Act of 2015,” bipartisan Senate legislation to reauthorize the ESEA/NCLB

    On April 7, 2015, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander and Ranking Member Patty Murray released the “Every Child Achieves Act of 2015” — legislation that would reauthorize the ESEA/NCLB. The HELP Committee will begin marking up the bill on Tuesday, April 14, at 10:00 a.m. There will be an open amendment process, and we expect the markup to last through Wednesday, April 15, at a minimum. The HELP Committee has released a summary of the bill. While the bill has several laudable provisions, and we are pleased to see a bipartisan bill

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Delaware PTA 2015 Youth Summit – STUDENT VOICES HEARD

Dear Families, We hope your student will join the conversation by joining other students across our state to add their opinions & experiences in the classroom to the conversation. Registration for our Delaware PTA 2015 Youth Summit – STUDENT VOICES HEARD is now open via the PTA website:  www.delawarepta.org Attached is a flyer that we hope you will share with your networks and students in middle & high school grades, as we want to hear from all students from across the state.  We know that they have opinions, expectations and perspectives as to their classroom experiences that we as the adults may

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