Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Federal COVID relief funding will dry up soon. Are districts ready?

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

For the past couple of years, the Detroit Public Schools Community District has been able to tap its share of federal COVID relief aid to fund after-school enrichment programs that help students recover from learning lost during the pandemic.

But those funds will soon run out, and Detroit and other districts face some tough decisions about which programs and employees they can afford to keep once federal support is gone. …Read More

Detroit Public Schools Community District Adopts Curriculum Associates’ Magnetic Reading™ to Help Accelerate Learning and Build Students’ Critical Reading Skills

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., September 1, 2021—Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) in Detroit, MI recently adopted Curriculum Associates’ Magnetic Reading program for students in Grades 3–5. This supplemental program, which will be used by approximately 12,000 students across 74 schools in the district, helps teachers facilitate lively classroom discourse and engage all students with grade-level content as they build their confidence and master critical reading skills.

“A strong reading foundation is so critical to students’ ongoing success,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “As part of our continued partnership with the district, we look forward to supporting DPSCD teachers as they work to accelerate learning and drive reading outcomes for their elementary students.”

With Magnetic Reading, teachers are provided actionable data and insights, knowledge-rich learning, culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy, and scaffolds to support learner variability. The program works seamlessly with i-Ready® Assessment, a program used by DPSCD to provide data-driven insights about each student’s skill level. Using the data from i-Ready, as well as Magnetic Reading’s Grade-Level Scaffolding report, teachers are able to craft a success plan for each student, student group, or strategic pairing by assigning specific Magnetic Reading units and lessons.…Read More

Detroit Public Schools to cut 1,500 teachers despite lower student attrition

Detroit Public Schools plans to cut 40 percent of its current teaching staff by fall 2015. Deep staffing cuts are part of a deficit-reducing effort by Gov. Rick Snyder’s newly formed Education Achievement Authority, Yahoo! News reports. The cuts will save $74 million in salaries and $15 million in pensions, to be used toward the DPS’s $372 million budget deficit. Remaining staff will have greatly increased student loads. Of the 1,500 teachers who will lose their jobs, 1,100 are slated to be gone next fall. Detroit’s poorer performing schools will see the most staff cuts…

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New Detroit Public Schools innovation officer to try improving system

Doug Ross, Detroit Public Schools’ new chief innovation officer, has built his career in the state of Michigan as a pitchman, Yahoo! News reports. First, Ross pitched his candidacy for the Michigan Senate, where he served a single term from 1979 through 1982. At that point, newly elected Democratic Gov. Jim Blanchard named him commerce director. In the latest embodiment of Ross as pitchman, his duties have been expanded with Detroit Public Schools. While still serving as head of the distict’s Charter Schools Office, he also will take the innovation officer post. Emergecy Manager Roy S. Roberts described the goal as “finding and implementing innovative best educational practices used across the nation to improve graduation rates and college readiness in DPS schools.”

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Detroit school teachers to take 10 percent wage cut

Detroit public school teachers will take a 10 percent wage cut and pay more for health care in what the school system’s manager on Friday said were “extreme measures” needed to address a financial emergency, Reuters reports. The measures are designed to save nearly $82 million as part of the Detroit Public Schools’ effort to address a $327 million deficit…

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Detroit schools closing: Michigan officials order Robert Bobb to shut half the city’s schools

State education officials have ordered the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools to immediately implement a plan that balances the district’s books by closing half its schools, reports the Huffington Post.

The Detroit News says the financial restructuring plan will increase high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidate operations…

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