Delaware Joins National Education Reform Effort

Delaware has been selected to join a multi-state consortium aimed at bettering America’s public education system. Along with Arizona, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Utah, Delaware will pursue recommendations of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce in its "Tough Choices or Tough Times" (TCTT) reform agenda. Seven Delaware leaders participated in the March 10th media conference in Washington, D.C. Video, photos, audio, and more information are available on the Commission's website. Vision 2015 applauds this important initiative—read our statement.

Read releases from the Delaware Department of Education and the Commission, and a feature and editorial from The News Journal.

Also on the National Front...

In an address on March 10 on a "Complete and Competitive Education," President Barack Obama called on states to develop "cutting-edge" early learning programs, adopt "world-class" standards paired with strong accountability measures, invest more in the teaching profession, embrace innovation in all public schools, and work to give every American access to a quality higher education. Read the full remarks.

The News Journal aptly noted, "The president's plan should sound familiar to Delawareans: It promotes the same ideas as Vision 2015."

Most of the President's priorities are included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; read more about what this stimulus legislation means for public education in this Education Week analysis.

State of Black Delaware - Education: Our Civil Right

The Delaware Black Caucus is hosting a forum on the "State of Black Delaware - Education: Our Civil Right" on Saturday, March 28, from 9:00am to noon at Howard High School (401 East 12th Street, Wilmington). Join the Caucus, Delaware's Secretary of Education, parents, school administrators, and community leaders for an open dialogue on how to provide a world-class education to the urban community. Click here for more information.

"Building Bright Futures" Summit on Child Poverty and Economic Opportunity

Join Governor Markell on Wednesday, April 22, at the Dover Downs Hotel for "Building Bright Futures," a summit on child poverty and economic opportunity. Register for this FREE conference and assist in the development of an action plan. Pre-registration is required and attendance is limited. Click here for more information, and register here.

For information on other events open to the public, and to submit an event, please visit the Vision 2015 community events page.

Ninety-two percent of teachers in Delaware that participated in the Delaware Statewide Academic Growth Assessment Pilot feel that adaptive assessments and online reports provided several times per school year are "highly" or "somewhat" valuable for planning differentiated instruction based on students' needs. The pilot is in place in over 40 percent of Delaware schools, with favorable results from teachers, parents, and students.

Source: "The Evaluation and Recommendations of the Delaware Statewide Academic Growth Assessment Pilot," prepared by the Pilot Steering Committee, November 30, 2007.

On March 4, Governor Jack Markell unveiled his education reform agenda for his first year in office. The priorities are to give school districts more flexibility to innovate, offer teachers additional rewards for excellence and service in at-risk schools, and introduce greater accountability by replacing the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) with a system that more accurately measures student progress.

One of these priorities, replacing the DSTP, is well underway. After six years of the DSTP, a legislative Task Force issued recommendations focused on what a new assessment system should look like, including implementing a growth assessment. Growth assessments provide periodic and timely feedback on students' year-long learning process and are recommended in the Vision 2015 report. The Task Force also made recommendations about how to support teachers in using a new assessment system as a tool to guide instruction and learning.

Just this month, the Department of Education announced that it will be implementing a new assessment system based on the Task Force recommendations and is seeking proposals from potential contractors. A new system is expected to be in place by fall 2010.

Read more about our current state test and plans for the new one in an in-depth article by The News Journal.

Check out our last e-newsletter and an editorial from The News Journal on the need for more flexibility, another priority issue.

Did You Know?

With computer-adaptive assessments, the questions adjust in difficulty based on a student’s previous answers. This allows all students to have a test that challenges them and gives their teachers specific feedback, which they can use to tailor instruction. For example, if a student answers a question correctly, he or she will be presented with a harder question; but if the answer is incorrect, the next question adjusts to a lower level. Each student therefore gets a test that accurately reflects his/her own level of performance as well as how he/she compares with the expectations of his/her grade.

Users of the Delaware Statewide Academic Growth Assessment Pilot said:

"I use [Measures of Academic Progress] MAP reports at parent conferences to show the parents where their child falls and what types of questions they can answer, as well as the skills we need to work on next. They really appreciate this individualized information, and are able to be stronger partners in their child’s education."

-- Amanda Mazzola, 6th grade teacher, Air Base Middle School, Caesar Rodney School District

"The MAP test is a tool that we heavily rely upon to monitor and measure progress in our most important job as educators - helping students learn and grow... . The MAP test is a great tool for measuring student growth, identifying weaknesses in the curriculum, and setting meaningful student targets."

-- Linda Jennings, Head of School, MOT Charter School