| Delaware Education News – February 2010 |
Queue, Inc. Offers FREE Previews Queue, Inc. is offering public schools free previews of Queue’s best-selling test prep and curriculum-based workbooks. Queue publishes test prep workbooks in reading comprehension and math for grades 2-8 based on DSTP standards as well as a a wide variety of workbooks in language arts, reading comprehension, math and science ideal for test prep. Order previews online, or call Queue at 800.232.2224. Queue's Resource Collections each offer easy access to vast library of exercises. You can pick and choose whatever you want. Print as many copies as you need of each exercise, as often as you like. These Resource Collections are great for homework, in-class assignments, individualized instruction, test preparation and IEP's. Math and Language Arts collections have thousands of exercises, quizzes and full-length practice tests. Reading Comprehension collections include hundreds of individual passages with reading comprehension questions. Passages include fiction and nonfiction, poems, short stories and full-length chapter books. The American History and Government and Science collections each contain an enormous wealth of materials. All this for one annual fee of $159.95 for each library. Access to Teacher Editions is included with each Collection. Report Gives Delaware a Grade of 'D' for Policies That Impact Quality of Teachers A new report by the not-for-profit, non-partisan National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds that Delaware's teacher policies largely work against the nation's goal of improving teacher quality. While the national focus on teacher quality has never been greater, the broad range of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession too often impede rather than promote serious reform. NCTQ's 2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook examined state policy across five areas that include teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure and dismissal, alternative certification and compensation. Delaware earned the following grades, resulting in an overall grade of D: • Delivering Well Prepared Teachers: F NCTQ President Kate Walsh said, "The release of the 2009 Yearbook comes at a particularly opportune time. Race to the Top, the $4.5 billion federal discretionary grant competition, has put unprecedented focus on education reform in general, and teacher quality in particular. We believe that the Yearbook provides a road map for achieving a Race to the Top grant, identifying where states are on the right track and where they have considerable work to do. Walsh continued: “Unfortunately, states have tremendous ground to make up after years of policy neglect. There is much more Delaware can do to ensure that all children have the effective teachers they deserve." • Delaware does not require annual evaluations for all teachers. It also does not require that districts collect or consider any evidence of teacher effectiveness as part of tenure decisions. • Delaware's alternate route to teacher certification includes burdensome requirements that block talented individuals from entering the profession. • Delaware's requirements for the preparation of elementary teachers do not ensure these teachers are well prepared to teach reading or mathematics. • Delaware sets low expectations for what special education teachers should know, despite state and federal expectations that special education students should meet the same high standards as other students. • Delaware fails to exercise appropriate oversight of its teacher preparation programs. The state allows programs to admit candidates without passing a basic skills test. It also fails to hold its teacher preparation programs accountable for the quality of the teachers they produce. • Delaware's pay and benefit policies for teachers—including the state-run retirement system—offer inadequate incentives to stay in teaching. Despite these findings, Delaware has some bright spots, including not having any restrictions on the use or providers of its alternate route to certification. Delaware also passed new regulations this month in support of its Race to the Top application that may further bolster its teacher evaluation policy. State’s Educational Data System Evaluated A new Data Quality Campaign (DQC) report finds that states are making impressive progress toward building longitudinal data systems and are taking the first steps to ensure that new information is used to improve student outcomes and system-wide performance. But the results, which are based on a survey of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, also show that most states have much work to do around key practices, such as following student progress from pre-school through college and the workforce, sharing student-level progress reports with teachers, and providing adequate training around data use. Complete report: Delaware's Other Achievement Gap While NCLB is closing the gap between rich and poor and ethnic groups at the proficient level, the gap at the advanced level is widening. NAEP proficiency level and percentile data as well as results from state assessments demonstrate the existence of substantial excellence gaps for Black, Hispanic, and Free and Reduced Lunch Eligible students. White students had higher average AP scores than Black and Hispanic students on AP tests and were more likely to make a “5” on an AP exam or take an AP exam. Delaware state assessments have fairly rigorous standards for advanced status. According to NAEP proficiency data, the percentage of students at the advanced level increased in Math for non-FARM and White students with an increase in the excellence gap despite gains among FARM and Black students in Grade 8 and Hispanic students in Grade 4. Reading Grade 4 scores were flat, but the excellence gap narrowed in Grade 8 on the strength of Hispanic and Black students’ improvements and stagnation among White students. NAEP scale scores at the 90th percentile increased across subgroups in Math as well as for underperforming groups in Reading. The excellence gap narrowed in Reading (partly due to stability among non-FARM and White students’ scores), as well as for Hispanic students in both grades in Math and Black students in Math Grade 4. The proportion of students scoring at the highest level increased in Grade 4 for income and ethnic subgroups and in Grade 7 for White and more affluent students, Black students, and low income students, with a decline in Hispanic students’ Grade 4 performances in both Math and Reading. The gap in the percentage of high achieving students widened in each instance. Student performance was essentially stable in Grade 10 Math. On AP exams, there were modest increases in the mean scores between Black and White students. At the same time the gap widened in the percentage of tests which received a 5 on the exam, received a 5 weighted by subgroup, and the number of tests taken weighted by enrollment.
The State of Delaware submitted an application for federal Race to the Top funds on Tuesday. Every District, Union, Charter and School Board Signed On To Delaware's Race to the Top. The application emphasized Delaware’s achievements, plans and potential in the following areas: • Opportunities for highly effective teachers: The State is providing new opportunities for highly effective teachers to advance and to contribute. It is creating a “teacher leader” role that engages highly effective teachers as instructional leaders, and it will offer bonuses to highly effective teachers in high-need schools. • Rapid, comprehensive adoption of reform: Delaware expects all reforms to be operational by the 2011-2012 school year, making our State’s progress far more rapid than that of other states. • Collaborative school turnaround: In the schools that are persistently lowest-achieving, the State now has the authority to ensure that reform is collaborative, yet credible, with a two-year timeframe for results following any necessary renegotiation of collective bargaining agreements. • Building core capabilities: The State will invest in building the skills of teachers and leaders so they can use the strong foundation of data and evaluation to improve student outcomes. With Race to the Top funding, the State would provide data coaches to assist educators in interpreting their students' data and developing strategies for addressing areas in need of additional focus. In addition, funding would be used to provide development coaches to assist school leaders in performing teacher evaluations and working with teachers to develop improvement plans. Complete application: New Partnership Zones Target Failing Schools Delaware, along with five other states (Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts and New York) will participate in a three-year public-private partnership to create scalable and sustainable strategies for turning around clusters of their lowest-performing schools. A two-year extension is slated to follow the initial three-year effort. Planning and development for the Partnership Zone Initiative has been funded with a $1.5 million, two-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, along with a partial match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mass Insight and its partners are committed to raising an additional $30 million of private funding for the three-year initial program and further funding for a two-year extension to match the $45 million of school level public funding. Public funds will come from state commitments to target federal 1003g School Improvement Grants to schools in the Zones. The major single investment in Partnership Zone schools will go towards increased teacher compensation to support extended learning time and incentive pay. In Delaware, the Longwood Foundation generously invested in Delaware's initial work with Mass Insight this past summer when Secretary Lowery convened her Innovation Action Team (IAT). The IAT, consisting of representatives from state agencies, DOE personnel and the business community, worked with Mass Insight to develop goals and strategies to support Delaware's lowest performing schools. The result of that work laid the foundation for the initiatives in Delaware's Race to the Top application as well Delaware’s inclusion in Mass Insight's Partnership Zone Initiative. The states will initially establish Partnership Zones in one or two school districts that will serve as proof points to demonstrate the success of a more strategic approach to turnaround. Each cluster of three to five low-performing schools will be supported by a “Lead Partner,” that is, an organization that provides academic and student support services to schools and coordinates and focuses the turnaround efforts to help overcome the chaotic “program-itis” that often undermines reform efforts. Lead Partners can either be independent organizations or autonomous units created by the district central office. Zone schools remain inside the district, and are able to tap into the scale efficiencies of many central office services. However, Zone schools also give school level leaders the freedom to make staffing, scheduling, curriculum and related decisions, in return for being held accountable for dramatic student achievement gains within two years. The design and timing for implementation of each Partnership Zone will vary depending on each state’s policy environment and capacity, but all Zones will draw on the same set of guiding principles that turning around low-performing schools requires a balance of autonomy and accountability, and the implementation of practices most likely to transform chronically low-performing schools. States plan to launch Partnership Zones on a flexible but aggressive timeline; with some states implementing Zones as early as the 2010-11 school year. Delaware, along with the other partnering states were selected based on: Mass Insight and a leading group of National Collaborators will assist states and districts in planning, state policy analysis, human capital analysis, district and school budget audits, communications/outreach, and other critical turnaround activities. National Collaborators include: Education Counsel, Education First Consulting, Education Resource Strategies, KSA-Plus Communications, The New Teacher Project, the Parthenon Group, and Turnaround for Children. Elementary Schools Win National Recognition North Georgetown Elementary School in Georgetown, Delaware and Woodbridge Elementary School in Greenwood, Delaware have been selected as 2009 National Title I Distinguished Schools. Both schools were recently honored last week during the 2010 National Title I Conference in Washington, DC. The conference attracted more than 3,000 Title I professionals from across the country who gathered to honor these schools as well as to share best practices and learn about innovative education programs. North Georgetown Elementary School was selected for its outstanding performance in exceptional student performance for two or more years. Belinda Waples is the principal of North Georgetown Elementary School which is in the Indian River School District. Woodbridge Elementary School was selected for its outstanding performance in closing the achievement gap between student groups. Jason Cameron is the principal of Woodbridge Elementary School which is in the Woodbridge School District. Other Delaware Title I Distinguished School Honorees include: Delaware's Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected in 15th Annual National Awards Program Wilmington and Dover students earn $1,000 awards, engraved medallions and trip to nation’s capital Honors also bestowed on youth volunteers in Ocean View and Laurel Ashley McNeill, 18, of Wilmington and Philip Moore, 13, of Dover were named Delaware's top two youth volunteers for 2010 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 15th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). Ashley was nominated by Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington, and Philip was nominated by the Kent County 4-H in Dover. As State Honorees, each will receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion, and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for several days of national recognition events. Ten of them will be named America’s top youth volunteers for 2010 at that time. At first, she helped sort, clean and label books. Then she began delivering children’s book baskets, assisted in the construction of several onsite libraries, and helped run book collection drives. Next, she reached out to friends and classmates to get them to join her in volunteering. Last year, while Ashley interned at a Boys & Girls Club facility in Wilmington, “I saw every day the lack of age-appropriate reading materials at the center,” she said. So, Ashley cleaned three rooms that housed the existing collections, brought in hundreds of brand new books, and organized them into three libraries, each for a specific age group. She also has put together hundreds of “book packs” as holiday gifts for underprivileged children, and assisted with large-scale book donations to schools, prisons, and senior centers. “By redistributing books to people in need, we can make a huge difference in the lives of children and adults everywhere,” Ashley said. Philip, a member of the Kent County 4-H and an eighth-grader at Robert Moore Academy, is an avid community volunteer who spends a great deal of time participating in service activities with his church and 4-H group. His biggest project is assisting with a low-cost grocery supply service called Angel Food Ministries. “My parents started the ministry at our local church, but I was never told that it was a requirement that I had to help,” said Philip. “I wanted to get involved to help people be better able to stretch their paychecks and feed their family.” For the past three years, he has been packing food, carrying it out to clients’ cars, delivering groceries to senior citizens, and helping out in other ways. In addition, the program judges recognized two other Delaware students as Distinguished Finalists for their impressive community service activities. Each will receive an engraved bronze medallion: Sierra Spicer, 18, of Laurel, a senior at Laurel High School, has served for four years on the Board of Directors for The Hope House I and II Project, a housing program for the homeless in the Laurel area. In that time, Sierra has spearheaded fund-raising events that yielded thousands of dollars to support the 50 families and 125 children that the Hope House has served.
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