Archive for the Education Updates Category

Operation TUDOS 2015

Good afternoon, Dover AFB is pleased to extend an invitation to all education professionals throughout Delaware to participate in our 2nd annual Operation TUDOS (Teachers Understanding Deployment OperationS).  Please share the attached letter and registration flyer with all of your administrators, counselors, professional groups and organizations and other education professionals throughout the state.  Our goal is to have at least one participant among key personnel from each school in Kent County, as well as one from districts in both New Castle and Sussex counties.  TUDOS is open to personnel from all public, charter and private schools in Delaware. EVENT DATE:

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NPE Forms Coalition of Education and Civil Rights Groups to Oppose High-Stakes Testing

June 18, 2015 Action Alerts, Activism, Civil Rights, Testing / Opting Out We, the below undersigned organizations, oppose high-stakes testing because we believe these tests are causing harm to students, to public schools, and to the cause of educational equity. High-stakes standardized tests, rather than reducing the opportunity gap, have been used to rank, sort, label, and punish Black and Latino students, and recent immigrants to this country. We oppose high-stakes tests because: There is no evidence that these tests contribute to the quality of education, have led to improved educational equity in funding or programs, or have helped close

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Month of the Foster Child

May is National Foster Care Month, a month set aside to acknowledge foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, policymakers, child welfare professionals, and other members of the community who help children and youth in foster care find permanent homes and connections. National PTA  has created a  series of videos under the Every Child in Focus campaign. The videos are a short window into the lives of foster families and their supporters to provide a better understanding of their challenges as well as celebrate their successes. The videos also are designed to empower PTAs and school communities to help welcome and support

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Message from Friends of CSD

Efforts to support the district’s May 27 referendum are well underway, and we need all hands on deck! A large number of community volunteers came together in late March to begin mobilizing referendum support. Their activities can be followed on facebook (CSDWeAllWin) and atwww.CSDWeAllWin.org.   The group divided into four subcommittees: Communications, Public Outreach, School-Based Activities and Political Action. FOCSD co-chairs Mary & Eve are on Outreach & Political Action, respectively. Are others in this group also involved?   IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THIS CRITICAL EFFORT, please email Wendy Lapham (laphamw@christina.k12.de.us) and let her know which committee interests you.  

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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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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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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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