Public Comment is Now Open on the WEIC DRAFT/INTERIM proposal

Below is the DRAFT/INTERIM proposal: “Redistricting in the City of Wilmington and New Castle County: A Transition, Resource and Implementation Plan”

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Below is the Appendix section that supports the DRAFT proposal.

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If you wish to have your thoughts formally considered, you must submit them via email to solutionsfordelawareschools@gmail.com, through the public comment submission webpage: https://docs.google.com/…/1af6f3vOPGdg2xIfowwfyOq_…/viewform, in writing to Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, c/o The Institute for Public Adminsitration, 111Academy Street, Newark, DE 19716, or in person at one of our public hearings taking place between November 30 and December 7. Dates, times and locations will be posted to this page and our website.

Trust is Not Given; Trust must be earned!

Yesterday, I attended an AFWG meeting that was called by Secretary Godowsky; the group had finished their work last month and had their recommendations ready to send to the State Board. The Secretary called back the Accountability Framework Working Group; he wanted to discuss with them some changes that he and State Board have decided to make to the AFWG recommendations. The State Board and the Secretary have decided that they are going to alter this group’s recommendations (AFWG) after the group had met 16 times over the last  1 1/2 years.  When the group had made their recommendations last month, all members of the group, except for Donna Johnson who was representing the State Board, all agreed with the proposed recommendations which would be submitted to the State Board for approval and then sent to US DOE. The only other person who had an issue with this group’s recommendation was the Governor.  It makes me wonder why Ms. Johnson serves on all of these committees and the actual State Board members do not. They are the ones who were appointed to the board. When I served on the Red Clay School Board, I was assigned to committees and when the committees met, I went to the committee meetings. It is important to attend these meetings so board members can get the views of the entire committee and not just one person’s views.

During Secretary Godowsky’s opening remarks, he spoke about how he wanted a workable agreement that included all stakeholders.  I was a little confused by his statement because he and the State Board were making changes to the AFWG recommendations and their changes have not been vetted through the DESS advisory committee which is the DOE’s stakeholder group. DESS approved the final recommendations of AFWG but they have not seen or approved these new proposed changes from the Secretary or the State Board.

DOE will be submitting the AFWG recommendations which will include the Secretary and the State Board’s changes to the US DOE. At the meeting, I requested that DE DOE make it clear to US DOE that the changes to the AFWG recommendations were not supported by the AFWG members. The changes were not vetted through DESS, the stakeholder group, and that members of the General Assembly spoke out against these changes.

I just cannot understand why the State Board and the Secretary want to punish schools who have no control over parents opting their children out of the state assessment.

I have to say I was so disappointed that our newly, appointed Secretary did this, he is a long-time educator. The State Board did not think that the recommendations that were put in place by the AFWG with regards to participation in our state assessment was not a strong enough penalty; they wanted something a little harsher.

I am hopeful that the Secretary listened to the group and public yesterday and will have a change of heart tomorrow and will do the right thing at tomorrow’s State Board meeting.

 

DE State Board of Education, if you are going to agree to participate in these educational committees, send your actual board members

 

If the Delaware State Board of Education cannot send their own board members to sit on education committees, then stop asking and accepting committee assignments.

You are doing our state a disservice by not participating in these meetings. You are being informed by one person and not hearing the views of the entire committee/group. I do not care how many times you view a presentation, it is not the same as hearing the dialogue that takes place between the actual members and the public. This practice needs to change, if it does not, then we need to make sure you have no seat at the table. You are making decisions that are hurting our schools and our students and it needs to stop.

Redistricting Committee Update

I attended the WEIC Redistricting Committee meeting last night. I have concerns about the tight timeline and have expressed my concerns to the commission. There just does not seem like there is going to be enough time given to the public to review the recommendations and to have their concerns heard or their questions answered. The final report is not completed and the public hearing comment window opens on November 30th. How is the public going to go on record when they have not been given the report or enough time to review the report?  The public hearings start in 16 days.

I know everyone on the commission and each of the committees have worked extremely hard and are committed to making positive changes for all our students. But, if you want public support we must inform them of the plans.

The next Redistricting Committee meeting will be held on November 19th from 4:00 until 6:00 at Baltz.

Below is a schedule of the public hearings.

The Accountability Framework Working Group Submitted Their Final Recommendations but the Group Has Been Called Back to Meet for One Last Time

The Accountability Framework Working Group will be meeting on November 17th – 10:00 – Townsend Building – Cabinet Room in Dover. The group submitted their final recommendations at the last meeting which was to be their final meeting. It is my understanding that certain folks are not good with their recommendations and they are going to try to convince the group to change their recommendations. It is my understanding there are issues with the recommendations surrounding the participation rate penalties. I am hopeful the group will stick to their final recommendations and not be swayed.

The group is going to be informed that  the 11th graders will no longer be required to take the Smarter Balanced test, instead the state will be replacing Smarter with the SAT. The SAT is given to all 11th graders throughout the state so no high school will drop below the 95% participation rate.

My issue is what about the other grades, what if participation drops below 95%, then what? How can you hold schools accountable for something they have no control over? If a parent wants to opt out their child, they have every right to and the school cannot do anything about it.

If the state does replace Smarter Balanced with SAT, I am glad that the 11th graders will have one less test to take. I guess before replacing one test with another, maybe some questions should be answered. What baseline are we going to use – what score will determine if a child receives a 1, 2, 3 or 4 or will the student have to score 1550 or more (college readiness score) to determine whether or not the child is proficient or not? How will the state measure growth if we are using the SAT as our state assessment for 11th graders? How will this test tie into evaluating our teachers and labeling our schools?

I am going to be honest here. I am going to be extremely disappointed if the new Secretary asks the Accountability Framework Working Group to change their recommendations. I know the Governor would like to see the recommendations changed as well as the State Board. I am hoping this is not the case, I will be attending the meeting on Tuesday and will report back on the meeting.

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November 19th – State Board of Education Committee Meeting

The State Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting starting at 1:00 on November 19th. The meeting will be held in the Cabinet Room – Townsend Building in Dover. Click here to view the agenda.

The Accountability Framework Working Group recommendations will be voted on, it will interesting to see if the State Board changes the recommendations that the AFWG submitted to DOE. WEIC will be presenting, they just presented to the State Board at their retreat on November 5th.

Redistricting Meeting Today at Baltz starting at 4:00

There is a redistricting meeting today starting at 4:00. Below is the agenda for today’s meeting.

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Redistricting Town Hall Meeting November 16

You are invited to learn about the proposed redistricting plan in New Castle County, that would include the Christina and Colonial School Districts and the Red Clay District.

 THE SCHOOL REDISTRICTING PLAN

Speaker:  Dan Rich, Policy Director, Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, and Professor of Public Policy, University of Delaware

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015, 6:30 P.M

PRESENTATION FOLLOWED BY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Kirkwood Library, 6000 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19808

SPONSORS:   American Association of University Women, Newark and League of Women Voters of New Castle County

THIS FORUM IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission is responsible for implementing recommendations to strengthen Wilmington public education and to provide greater support for all Delaware schools with high concentrations of low-income students and English language learners.

The work of the Commission includes the development of a plan for redistricting in New Castle County, with the Christina and Colonial School Districts no longer serving Wilmington students  and the Red Clay District taking on these students.  The redistricting plan also will address the resources needed for redistricting  to be successful in better  supporting student learning. 

The forum will, provide an understanding of issues being addressed by the Wilmington  Education Improvement Commission. 

Red Clay Family Resource Fair – November 14th

The Red Clay Family Resource Fair will take place this year – November 14th from 10:00 to 1:00 at John Dickinson High School.

 

Why does the state continue to insist on punishing schools?

I have to say that I am very disappointed that the state may not take the recommendations of the Accountability Framework Working Group who met for over a year and a half. Instead, they are doing exactly what Donna Johnson with the State Board and the Governor’s Office wanted which was stronger penalties for schools who fell below the 95% Smarter Balanced state assessment participation rate.

I was at the last two meetings of the AFWG and I heard first hand what the Governor’s Office wanted; stronger penalties to be placed on our schools. Donna Johnson stated that the State Board was probably not going to approve the final recommendations that the group made. She indicated that the State Board would want stronger penalties as well. Really, how did the State Board come to that conclusion because they were not at the meetings. How would Donna know that they would not agree with these recommendations because the group just decided on the recommendations?

The AFWG recommended that if a school fell below 95 percent it would be required to submit a report explaining why that happened and how to improve participation and that school could not be named a reward school. The group decided on this penalty because it would cause the least amount of damage to a school. The group would have preferred not to put any penalties in place, but the state told the group it was mandated by the feds.

The group members consisted of school administrators from charter and traditional schools, the Delaware PTA , the Delaware State Education Association, and the State Board. The entire group, except for one, did not want to punish schools because the administrators at a school have no control as to whether or not a student takes the state assessment. If a parent wishes to opt their child out of the state assessment, a school has no control over that, so why does the state want to punish that school for something a school has no control over?

In an effort to ensure as many students as possible are taking the state standardized test, the state Department of Education is recommending schools lose points on a new “scorecard” if fewer students than expected take the exam.

That’s a harsher penalty for schools with low participation rates than a panel of administrators and teacher and parent advocates recommended.

Their plan, which the Working Group had previously rejected, would multiply a school’s score by its participation rate if that rate fell below 95 percent.

“The state feels this is a fair proposal that takes into consideration participation, crediting schools that work to ensure every child’s learning growth is considered,” May wrote.

Click here to read the entire Delaware Online article.