DELAWARE EDUCATION NEWS
December 2006
Copyright © 2006 Queue, Inc.
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Of every 10 freshmen
entering Delaware high schools this fall, six likely will earn their diplomas
in 2010.
The rest will leave
school quietly, some with less than two years left. They will quit because
school is too boring or too hard or because they already missed so many days
they couldn't pass if they tried.
Others will leave to
get a job, take care of a relative or become a parent. Some will give up
because, in their teenage minds, two years is a long time, and they can't see
the end in sightÉ
Delaware's graduation
rate, under the national average of 68 percent to 71 percent, has remained
stubbornly consistent. Programs such as alternative and adult high schools,
help some people graduate. New initiatives, including evening classes,
specialized programs, the incentive of college scholarships and adviser relationships,
aim to reach more.
Education leaders say
they, too, are frustrated that in Delaware, only 7 out of 10 white students,
and half of black and Hispanic students graduate from high school.
That
doesn't take into account those students who quit before reaching the ninth
grade. Seventy-two of about 20,000 seventh- and eighth-graders dropped out in
the 2004-05 school year. Students must be 16 to drop out with a parent's
permission or 18 without it, according to state lawÉ.
A new report from the
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation finds that just eight states can claim even
moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their
poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or
science.
The study also finds
that most states making significant achievement gains-including California,
Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas-are national leaders in
education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and
greater school choice can yield better classroom results.
See the study at: http://ent.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=104914603&u=998506.
To see the rankings please
go to:
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/global/page.cfm?id=388#tfr06edreformachieve
Calling
for Òno exceptions, no excuses,Ó the Vision 2015 Steering Committee issued a
comprehensive plan to develop a world class public education system in
Delaware. As designed, the Steering Committee claimed it would serve as a model
for the nation and the world.
The six building blocks of Vision 2015,
containing dozens of recommendations, reinforce one another:
1. Set
Sights High. Set high
academic standards for every child, coupled with high-quality curricula and
additional instructional time to give students the best opportunity to meet
them.
2. Invest
in Early Childhood Education. Target more resources to high-need children to build an early
foundation for long-term success.
3. Develop
and Support High-Quality Teachers. Give teachers the tools, coaching and resources needed to
customize instruction for each and every child, and reward teachers for their
skills and effectiveness.
4. Empower
Principals to be Great Leaders. Empower principals with the knowledge, authority, flexibility,
resources, and technology required to focus tightly on student achievement and
to get results.
5. Encourage
Innovation and Require Accountability. Provide a rich set of school options and instructional methods
to meet the varying needs of students and their families. And require
accountability for student success from all involved, including parents,
community groups, teachers, principals, business leaders, and public officials.
6. Establish
a Simple and Equitable Funding System. Establish a school funding formula that is easy to understand
and weighted to address the needs of individual students, so that taxpayers can
be sure that public funds are well spent and so that all students have the
resources they need to reach the same high standards. Although Vision 2015
cannot be implemented overnight, the work begins today. The first initiatives
will be rolled out in early 2007, and several will require significant changes
in policies and practice.
Early
work will focus on: providing more professional support to principals and
teachers; benchmarking our academic standards internationally; generating
high-quality curricula; and improving assessments and technology systems so
they can help school leaders, teachers, and parents alike to better understand
what is needed for each studentÕs individual success. Top-notch infrastructure
paired with highly trained and well-supported educators set the foundation for
Vision 2015.
Beginning
in 2007, interested school districts and charter schools will be invited to
join a statewide network that adopts a full set of Vision 2015 recommendations.
Recruitment of an initial group of ÒVision districtsÓ and ÒVision schoolsÓ will
pave the way for every other district and school within the state.
In
addition, a new entity, the Delaware Public Education Partnership, will be
established to reinforce Vision 2015 goals. The partnership—to be
governed by a coalition of education, government, business and community
leaders—will hold public and private leaders accountable for the
transformation and ensure that the Vision 2015 schools and districts receive
the resources and support they need to succeed.
To view the
full Vision 2015 plan:
http://www.vision2015de.org/Portals/0/Vision2015report10-12.pdf
The U.S. Department
of Education announced today that Delaware is one of only three states to have
their "Growth Model" approved under the guidelines of No Child Left
Behind (NCLB).
Just one year ago,
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced a pilot program where
states who were closing achievement gaps and increasing student achievement
could submit proposals to help strengthen their accountability standards.
Secretary Spellings stated that no more than ten high-quality growth models
would be approved in 2006.
"I am very
pleased that our growth model proposal had been approved by Washington,Ó said
Secretary of Education Valerie A. Woodruff. ÒIn the spring of 2006, we
submitted what we thought was a viable model that was disapproved. However, we
went back to the table and made adjustments based on the feedback we were
getting from USDOE, and obviously that has paid off."
DelawareÕs growth
model is based on individual student achievement over time and will allow
Delaware to look at individual student growth from year to year rather than
comparing one class to another.
ÒThe growth model
selected by Delaware for the pilot program is similar to one that had been
developed prior to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002,Ó said Robin Taylor,
Associate Secretary for Assessment and Accountability. ÒFor years,
Delaware has had the necessary data systems and infrastructure, assessments for
multiple years in the areas of reading and math in contiguous grades, and a
model designed to hold schools accountable for all students being proficient by
2013 – 2014. TodayÕs announcement just further enforces our work to
ensure all students succeed.Ó
The approved growth
model was developed by a statewide NCLB stakeholder group including teachers,
building level administrators, administratorsÕ association, special education
coordinators, Title I coordinators, curriculum directors, local chief school
officers, State Board of Education, parents, business community, advocacy
groups, and local boards of education.
In order for the
growth model to be approved by Washington, DelawareÕs accountability system
must meet seven core principles as outlined by USDOE.
Those principles are:
á
The proposed
accountability system must ensure that all students are proficient by 2013-2014
and set annual goals to ensure that the achievement gap is closing for all
groups of students.
á
The accountability
system must establish high expectations for low-achieving students that are not
based on student demographic or school characteristics.
á
The accountability
system must produce separate accountability decisions about student achievement
in reading/language arts and in mathematics.
á
All students in the
tested grades must be included in the assessment and accountability system;
schools and districts must be held accountable for the performance of student
subgroups; and the accountability system must include all public schools and
districts in the state.
á
Annual assessments in
reading/ language arts and math in each of grades 3-8 and high school must have
been administered for more than one year, must produce comparable results from
year to year and grade to grade, and must be approved through the peer review
process for the 2005-06 school year.
á
The accountability
model and state data system must track student progress.
á
The accountability
system must include student participation rates in the state's assessment
system and student achievement on an additional academic indicator.
Delaware
will now report the traditional school accountability information as well as
the growth model information side by side in school report cards when that
information is released.