Three institutions of higher education have reached an agreement to offer 12 early childhood credits.

WilmU, DelTech join DSU offer of 12 free early childhood credits

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Just weeks after Delaware State University announced a successful inaugural year of a program that trains professionals to serve the state’s youngest learners, the state’s other prominent institutions of higher education are jumping on board.  The Delaware Department of Education funds DSU’s Early Childhood Innovation Center, which offers direct support to help early childhood professionals work toward their certification as …

Thomas Edison Charter School was one of seven to win the grant this year.

7 schools share $2.16 million in grants for out-of-school learning

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

A charter school in Wilmington plans on using a new $320,000 grant to fund after-school and summer-school programs focusing on literacy, math, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.  Thomas Edison Charter School is one of seven community education centers receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. Salome Thomas-EL, head of school, said he is …

2024's Educators Rising National Day of Signing for Delaware was held at the Old State House Tuesday.

87 pledge to teach during Educators Rising signing day

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

The impact and caring role of teachers during a troubling childhood has sparked a career path for high schooler Leilani Carrera, who solidified that path Tuesday during the Educators Rising National Day of Signing.   The senior at Sussex Central High School in the Indian River School District signed her letter of intent at the Old State House in Dover to …

Districts that have had successful referendums are now planning designs, construction bids, and how projects will be phased over the next few years.

Here’s what happens now in districts whose referendums passed

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Now that Colonial, Red Clay and Brandywine have had successful referendums, residents of those school districts may be wondering when they’ll have to pony up finances and when they’ll see new facilities. Delaware school districts that have had a successful referendum typically phase their spending over three years or more.  The concept of the referendum isn’t widespread nationally.  Delaware is …

Delaware families are in the process of hearing back if they were accepted into their school of choice or if they were put on a waitlist.

What happens if you’re waitlisted from school of choice?

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

After wading through the process of school choice, Erin Exelby found herself woken up in the middle of the night worrying what would happen if her children were waitlisted from their top selections. School districts sent parents and children emails about a month ago saying whether they were accepted, denied or waitlisted for their preferred schools. Waitlisting essentially means that …

Red Clay and Colonial school districts were the biggest funding beneficiaries of this year's certificate of necessity approvals.

Colonial, Red Clay biggest winners in state funding requests

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

The state Department of Education has made some school districts very happy by deeming their requests for state funding necessary to fulfill building projects. For fiscal year 2025, the Department of Education approved 50 certificate of necessity requests, 44 of which involved state funding. They were concentrated in six districts. Districts submit certificates of necessity each year to the department, …

For school-level proficiency data, the public should select the "all students" filter for a school.

How to navigate the state’s test scores data

Jarek RutzHeadlines

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that individual school proficiency rates were unavailable.   Parents might need help navigating the million data points in the Delaware Open Data portal. Within the dataset on student assessment performance, much of the school-level data has been “redacted,” which means it’s been removed for publication in the case of the dataset for …

Red Clay board member pushes transparency for Wilmington Learning Collab.

 Red Clay board member questions Learning Collab’s transparency

Jarek RutzEducation, Headlines

  A Red Clay Consolidated School District board member is pressing the new Wilmington Learning Collaborative to advertise meetings. Cathy Thompson, the former head of the board, asked Superintendent Dorrell Green to ensure that the newly-created board is as transparent as possible during their Nov. 16 meeting. The Learning Collaborative’s memorandum of understanding was signed Nov. 1 by members of …

Colonial School District will get four new environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient buses courtesy of a federal rebate program. (Pexels)

Colonial awarded 4 eco-friendly buses through federal grant

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Colonial School District is adding three electric buses and one propane-powered bus to its fleet, courtesy of an $809,000 federal grant awarded to the state’s Department of Education.  In addition to a quieter ride, electric and propane-powered buses are said to be more environmentally friendly than gasoline-powered ones because they release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Colonial Superintendent Jeff …

HOWARD T. ENNIS SCHOOL WILL BE HOME TO THE BRYAN ALLEN STEVENSON SCHOOL FOR EXCELLENCE charter IN FALL 2023

Bryan Allen Stevenson charter wins state OK; will open in 2023

Jarek RutzEducation, Headlines

Howard T. Ennis school will be home to the Bryan Allen Stevenson School for Excellence in fall 2023.   After a few organizational hiccups, a new Sussex County charter school will be opening its doors in fall 2023. The Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence, first proposed in 2017, received state approval on May 5, and it’s already garnered a …