Chief technology officers are facing an unprecedented test of digital preparedness due to the coronavirus pandemic, struggling with shortfalls of available learning devices and huge Wi-Fi access challenges.

A pair of board resolutions in Kansas put the e-cigarette industry on notice at a time when schools are grappling with rampant use of their products by students.

But some Democrats say that could make the selection process more political.

In a small region of Vermont, a fierce debate raged over consolidating five tiny school districts into one.

Rockville, Maryland : National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1985.

State funding for K-12 is likely to fall sharply, though districts could look to protect essentials like distance-learning support and professional development, says school finance expert Mike Griffith.

The post As States’ Budgets Reel During COVID-19, Districts to Feel the Wrath appeared first on Market Brief.

EdWeek Market Brief asked district officials in a nationwide survey about their most urgent assessment needs, as they cope with COVID-19 and tentatively plan for reopening schools.

The post What Districts Want From Assessments, as They Grapple With the Coronavirus appeared first on Market Brief.

Niko A. Busch
Jun 17, 2009; 29:7869-7876
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

Gregor Thut
Sep 13, 2006; 26:9494-9502
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

The digital revolution has changed the way we work, access information and connect with each other. It offers opportunities to those who can use the new technologies, but also presents new challenges for those who are left behind. Often referred to collectively as Information and Communications Technologies or ICTs, these technologies are any method of electronically sharing or storing data: telephones, [...]

Mary Pearson, who was briefly engaged to the writer's brother, may be the real-life counterpart of Lydia Bennet from "Pride and Prejudice"

Denver Newsroom, May 7, 2020 / 05:29 pm (CNA).- A Notre Dame sociologist is using data to challenge a Harvard Law professor’s assertions that homeschooling is “dangerous”, and detrimental to society.

The controversy stems from a recent paper by professor Elizabeth Bartholet in which she calls for a presumptive ban on homeschooling in the United States.

Bartholet, as quoted in a Harvard Magazine piece based on her paper, points to unspecified “surveys of homeschoolers” to assert that “up to 90 percent” of homeschooling families are “driven by conservative Christian beliefs, and seek to remove their children from mainstream culture.”

“Some” homeschooling parents are “‘extreme religious ideologues’ who question science and promote female subservience and white supremacy,” she writes.

David Sikkink, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, analyzed surveys of homeschooling families— including a 2016 government survey—  and found that these families are not overwhelmingly Christian nor religious, and are not as universally closed-off to the outside world as Bartholet asserts.

In the analysis Sikkink conducted, just 16% of homeschooling parents said they were homeschooling primarily for religious reasons. The number one reason homeschooling parents cited was a concern about school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure.

Eleven percent of parents reported homeschooling because their child has special needs.

While approximately half of the homeschooling parents surveyed mentioned religion as a factor in their decision to homeschool, Sikkink notes that the parents who cited religion as a reason were, on the whole, more highly educated than those parents who did not.

In terms of Bartholet’s assertion that some homeschooling parents “believe that women should be totally subservient to men and educated in ways that promote such subservience,” Sikkink’s analysis did not find evidence that religious households oppose higher education for girls.

Among the homeschooling families in the survey who use a religious curriculum, there was no difference in their self-reported educational expectations— i.e., what education level they expected their children to reach—  for their male children vs. their female children.

Several past studies have shown that homeschool students typically outperform their public and private school counterparts on things like standardized tests and college performance. A 2016 study from the National Council on Measurement in Education showed that, when adjusted for demographic factors, homeschool students were on par academically with their demographically-similar peers.

Moreover, the data Sikkink analyzed suggests that after family background and demographic controls are accounted for, about 64% of homeschoolers “completely agree” that they have much in life to be thankful for, compared to 53% of public schoolers.

On feelings of helplessness, or lack or goals or direction in life, homeschoolers do not substantially differ from their public school counterparts, the analysis suggests.

In the Arizona Law Review, Bartholet argues that while homeschool children may perform as well as their peers on standardized tests or in college, they are also often isolated from their peers and denied experiences and exposures that would make them more productive citizens.

Bartholet claims in her article that “a very large proportion of homeschooling parents are ideologically committed to isolating their children from the majority culture and indoctrinating them in views and values that are in serious conflict with that culture.”

“Isolated families,” she asserts, “constitute a significant part of the homeschooling world.”

In contrast, Sikkink’s analysis found that among the schooling groups surveyed, homeschooling families had the highest level of “community involvement” of all school sectors.

“Community involvement” activities included attending sporting events, attending concerts, going to the zoo or aquarium, going to a museum, going to a library, visiting a bookstore, or attending an event sponsored by a community, religious, or ethnic group.

Homeschooling graduates are almost identical to their public school counterparts in likelihood to vote in federal and local elections, Sikkink found.

Furthermore, the total number of volunteer and community service hours for homeschooling graduates is very similar to or slightly higher than public school graduates, the analysis found.

Bartholet asserts that some homeschoolers “engage in homeschooling to promote racist ideologies and avoid racial intermingling.”

In contrast: “The reality is that about 41% of homeschooled children are racial and ethnic minorities,” Sikkink writes.

“When asked about four closest friends, about 37% of young adult homeschoolers...mention someone of a different race or ethnicity—exactly the same as public schoolers.”

This diversity also extends to schooling practices— increasingly, Sikkink says, homeschooling adopts new forms, including “hybrids” that combine the benefits of home and institutional schooling.

“About 57 percent of homeschoolers are using some form of instruction outside the family,” Sikkink told CNA in an email.

“That includes using tutors, private or public schools, colleges or universities, or homeschooling coops. That percentage would be higher if we included those who reported obtaining curriculum from formal institutions, such as public schools.”

Moreover, about a third of homeschooling parents obtain their curriculum or books from a public school or school district.

“Altogether, 46% of homeschoolers have some pedagogical relationship with public schools,” Sikkink asserts.

Bartholet argues that homeschooling puts children at risk of abuse by their parents, while if children were in public schools, they would be among teachers who are mandatory reporters of any suspected abuse that may be taking place.

“The issue is, do we think that parents should have 24/7, essentially authoritarian control over their children from ages zero to 18? I think that’s dangerous,” Bartholet asserts in the Harvard Magazine piece.

“I think it’s always dangerous to put powerful people in charge of the powerless, and to give the powerful ones total authority.”

Sikkink says Bartholet’s image of a child confined to the home “24/7...from ages zero to 18” is not consistent with the data.

“When we look at the use of homeschooling for each year of the child's upbringing, we only find a small percentage that report that the child was homeschooled for all their years of schooling,” Sikkink told CNA in an email.

Many of these students are part-time public schoolers— about 25% of homeschoolers receive some instruction in public schools during their school-age careers, he wrote.

Homeschooling regulations vary widely by state. Sikkink told CNA he hopes future studies will examine the effects of state-level variation in regulation on homeschooling quality.

“The question of schooling oversight remains, of course, but it would be short-sighted not to keep homeschooling and other creative schooling options in the mix, including the hybrid models that cross sector boundaries,” Sikkink concludes.

 

Subsequent to the publication of this story, Sikkink told CNA he had revised his assessment of the percentage of homeschoolers using instruction outside the family, from 64% to 57%. The story has been updated to reflect that assessment.

The Bank of England says the UK faces its worst slump in 300 years, but on Thursday held off from any moves on rates or bond buying.

Chief technology officers are facing an unprecedented test of digital preparedness due to the coronavirus pandemic, struggling with shortfalls of available learning devices and huge Wi-Fi access challenges.

E-learning may help some schools keep instruction flowing but major gaps in access and resources mean not all schools are ready to offer virtual classes, and not all students are equipped to learn online.

Educators are struggling to learn how to use new tech tools—devices, apps, software, and online textbooks—in greater volume than ever before.

Over two years, 27 communities have split from their home districts, and the new districts are mostly wealthier, whiter, and more property-rich than the ones left behind.

The school funding group EdBuild finds neighborhood attempts to secede popping up in more school districts, with racial and economic isolation increasing in their wake.

The parents of a 16-year-old who died last fall from football-related brain trauma are suing the New York school districts he played for and the medical responders who tended to him the night he sustained his fatal injury.

A new mandate under the Every Student Succeeds Act requires a top-to-bottom look at how such districts deploy their money, staff, and the time used to support improvement.

VE DAY in 1945 was obviously an occasion for major celebration in Britain and throughout Europe. But there is reasonable debate as to what we should make of it now.

A new version of the federal research site allows users to find research related to specific school populations.

The hiring pool improved for schools when the recession squeezed teachers, study finds.

For decades, special education advocates have urged the federal government to "fully fund" the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Here are some examples 'ripped from the headlines' of how the funding gap is affecting school districts.

For decades, special education advocates have urged the federal government to "fully fund" the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Here are some examples 'ripped from the headlines' of how the funding gap is affecting school districts.

With the coronavirus pandemic pressing tens of thousands of the nation's school districts into extended closures, education administrators across the nation are wrestling with a complex and legalistic problem: how to keep services flowing for students with disabilities.

A new survey of school districts and CMOs will provide new insights into trends, and complement other data on teachers and principals.

Downtown revitalization efforts in Wilmington, Dover and Seaford continue to gain momentum, with new projects in all three counties slated to receive funding from Delaware’s Downtown Development Districts program.

Wilmington, DE – Highlighting ongoing efforts to revitalize Delaware’s downtowns, Governor Jack Markell and Delaware State Housing Authority Director Anas Ben Addi presented a grant check on Monday to the owners of Tonic Bar and Grille, money that helped Tonic fund extensive renovations throughout the restaurant. Tonic’s grant rebate was funded by Delaware’s Downtown Development […]

$4.5 million in grant funding for 11 projects will leverage $130 million in private investment DOVER, DE — Building on progress in Delaware’s downtowns, Governor Jack Markell and the Delaware State Housing Authority announced on Monday that 11 new downtown revitalization projects in Wilmington, Dover and Seaford will receive $4.5 million in grant funding through […]

Governor Jack Markell on Wednesday announced a statewide expansion of Delaware's Downtown Development Districts program, significantly building on the state's efforts to redevelop Delaware’s commercial business districts and drive private investment in towns and cities. Five new Downtown Development Districts were officially designated in Smyrna, Harrington, Milford, Georgetown and Laurel. Investors who make qualified improvements to residential, commercial, or industrial properties in those districts now may qualify for state and local development incentives, including 20 percent state grant rebates.

$3.6 million in grant funding for 16 projects to leverage $38.6 million in private investment MILFORD – Building on progress in Delaware’s downtowns, Governor Jack Markell and the Delaware State Housing Authority announced on Tuesday that sixteen new downtown revitalization projects in Harrington, Milford, Dover, Smyrna and Wilmington will receive $3.56 million in grant funding […]

SMYRNA – Building on progress in Delaware’s downtowns, Governor John Carney and the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) announced today that eight new downtown revitalization projects in Milford, Dover and Wilmington will receive $4.6 million in rebate funding through Delaware’s Downtown Development Districts (DDD) program. Established in May 2014, the DDD program was created to […]

DOVER – Twelve downtown revitalization projects in Milford, Smyrna and Wilmington have been selected to receive funding through Delaware’s Downtown Development Districts (DDD) program, with $5.5 million in rebates leveraging $103 million in total investment, Governor John Carney and the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) announced today. Established in May 2014, the DDD program was […]

States don't routinely collect information on districts' materials purchases. If they plan to use curriculum as a lever to improve student learning, they should, a new brief argues.

The Delaware Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights & Public Trust announced Tuesday that a grand jury has indicted Dewey Beach police officer Gregory Lynch, Jr. in connection to an August 10 incident near Bellevue Road. The DOJ alleges that police and EMTs were dispatched on August 10 to assist a victim who had […]

Wilmington man sentenced for 2017 killing in city A Bridgeville man who turned himself into police three days after fatally shooting another man in 2018 will spend the rest of his life in prison. A Sussex County Superior Court jury convicted Mcarthur Risper, Jr. of Murder First Degree, Conspiracy First Degree, and Possesion of a […]

A Superior Court jury has convicted a Wilmington man for his central role in a June 2016 murder. Witness testimony, cell phone evidence, and collaboration with an FBI task force demonstrated that Brian Wilson, also known as Fudayl Wakim, arranged the murder of Allen Cannon through a $10,000 bounty and a conspiracy with co-defendant Eric […]

Election Day is still a few days away, but Delaware students tallied their votes for statewide offices today in Dover at the 2018 Student Mock Election Convention. In what’s become a bellwether for elections in Delaware, students picked incumbents Sen. Tom Carper and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester to continue representing the First State in Washington.

The BCCI has already stopped DDCA's annual grant and there has been a discussion to put an ad-hoc body in place during a teleconference between Apex Council members a couple of days back.

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation voted to extended district enrollment until December 31, 2018 to any agricultural landowners who want to preserve their farms and still have the opportunity to submit an application for the upcoming round. Farms must be enrolled in a preservation district before the landowner can sell an easement.

The court held Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta guilty for rape, murder, destroying evidences and unnatural offence of the girl based on the testimony of the male companion and medical reports of the victim. Ram Singh, the primary accused commited suicide in Tihar Jail while in police custody. The juvenile, Mohd. Afroz was tried under The Juvenile Justice laws for rape and murder of girl and a maximum sentence of 3 years was given to him. All the four adult convicts were given a death sentence and were executed on 20th March, 2020.

The Delaware Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights & Public Trust announced Monday that a grand jury has indicted a Pennsylvania man on two counts of the crime of Abusing a Corpse. In two separate incidents, James T. Schaeffer-Patton, 39, of Pennsylvania is accused of having improperly moved decedents’ bodies during his employment as […]

WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Wednesday signed the ninth modification to his State of Emergency declaration, further limiting public gatherings and ordering essential businesses to take specific steps to enforce social distancing and fight the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Governor Carney’s modified emergency order limits public gatherings to 10 people through […]

Escalation in protests across the globe in 2019 are forecast to persist into the new decade, according to Verisk Maplecroft report.

Wind or solar now represent the least expensive option for adding new power generation capacity in approximately two-thirds of the world.

Wind or solar now represent the least expensive option for adding new power generation capacity in approximately two-thirds of the world.