House Bill 307 w/HA 1 (Teacher Reimbursement) was signed into law

House Bill 307 w/HA 1 was signed into law on June 9, 2016. This bill provides a reimbursement upon the applicant becoming a teacher in a Delaware public school. Below is a little background information about the original House Bill 146 which was signed into law last July 2015.

In 2015, I sponsored  House Bill 146, which enacted the one-time fee of no more than $100 for an educator’s first license in Delaware, House Bill 146.   Delaware was one of only a few states that did not charge a fee for educator licensure or for certifications.  Delaware processed approximately 10,000 applications for licensure and certification each year, in addition to other processing requests for current educators, such as plus credits.  Because of reciprocity agreements and the lack of license fees in our state, the Department of Education processes approximately one to two thousand applications per year from applicants outside of the State of Delaware who do not become employed here.  Establishing a $100 fee for new licenses will help deter applicants who apply because of the lack of cost and with the intent to seek reciprocity elsewhere.  This will reduce the processing burden and allow the licensure office to better serve the needs of Delaware’s educators.

 

SAT to replace Smarter in 11th grade in Delaware, less testing is a good thing but are there unintended consequences?

Is this a great move or not, I really do not know because there has been no discussion and I have many questions that have not been answered. We do not know the unintended consequences that will come from this announcement. While I support removing all testing from a junior’s plate, I am not sure I am comfortable using SAT as a way to measure student success, teacher success, a school success or a district’s success. How will we measure growth? Also, who is going to continue to pay for this when the State of Delaware decides they can no longer afford to pay for this. This initiative was originally funded through the Race to the Top grant.

Last year, the Governor announced that Delaware colleges agreed to use the Smarter Balance Assessment as a way to measure college readiness as Delaware students entered college. Students would be able to opt out of remedial courses if they were to score at a certain level on the Smarter Balanced Assessment, what happened to that great idea?

I feel like we just keep jumping from one idea to another, never really looking into the pros and the cons. This is not the best way to run government.

This, in my opinion, is just another way for the Governor to stop House Bill 50, the bill he vetoed, from being overridden.

Below is the press release from the Governor’s Office.

 

The SAT will replace the Smarter Assessment as the state test for high school juniors beginning this spring.

The change comes at the request of legislators and as the state continues to look for ways to reduce testing, particularly for 11^th graders who already were taking both exams as part of Delaware’s state-funded School Day SAT program.

The College Board, the nonprofit that administers the college entrance exam, is launching a redesigned SAT this spring that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, the academic expectations for what Delaware students should know and be able to do at the completion of each grade level. The changes to the SAT also include a move away from obscure “SAT vocabulary words” to the use of relevant vocabulary words in context, an in-depth focus on essential areas of math and the elimination of the guessing penalty.

“Our students deserve an exam that helps them gauge their college and career readiness, and our teachers deserve an exam that provides them with the information they need to guide their instruction. This is one example of how we are reducing the testing burden on our students and teachers,” Secretary of Education Steven Godowsky said. “This is a smart solution that ensures our educators, students and families get the information they need while mitigating the over-testing concern many share.

The state will continue to administer the Smarter Assessment in grades 3 to 8.

Delaware has been administering a school-day SAT to all public school juniors at no cost to students since 2011. Godowsky said making the transition to use the SAT as the accountability test this year is based on the feedback of elected leaders, educators and families. Last week, 10 legislators sent a letter to Gov. Jack Markell asking to replace the 11^th grade Smarter exam with the SAT.

“Our community was clear that this was in the best interest of our high school juniors and the sooner we could make the switch the better,” Godowsky said. “This decision is in response to that feedback.”

Gov. Jack Markell, who launched a statewide assessment inventory process last spring, said, “We believe that the concerns about the testing burden on our juniors are well founded.  We also agree that this move is a smart, commonsense way to reduce the testing burden significantly without sacrificing our ability to understand whether we are serving our students well and whether they are making the progress they need to be successful.  I have asked Secretary Godowsky to immediately designate the SAT as our 11th grade assessment and take all necessary steps to implement the change so that, beginning this year, juniors will no longer take Smarter Balanced.  The department will seek federal approval for this change in our state assessment as quickly as possible and otherwise ensure that the transition goes smoothly in schools across the state.”

Under Delaware’s former state test, the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System (DCAS), 9^th and 10^th graders were tested. When the state moved to Smarter in Spring 2015, 11^th grade became the singular testing year for high school. But many said that proved overwhelming for juniors, who also take Advanced Placement exams, the SAT, SAT subject tests, the ACT and other tests during their 11^th grade year.

New Castle County Vo-Tech Superintendent Vicki Gehrt, president of the Delaware Chief School Officers Association, said superintendents in the state are in support of substituting the SAT in lieu of the Smarter Assessment as the required assessment for high school students.  This shift both gives teachers more time to provide necessary instruction and eases the load on our high school students with respect to the annual assessments they already must take.

State Board of Education President Dr. Teri Quinn Gray said students and families value the SAT.

“The redesigned SAT provides important information students, parents and educators want and need to understand students’ college, career and civic readiness. For that reason, it is already valued by parents and students.  In addition, by using this test as the high school assessment for English language arts and math, we will reduce the amount of required testing and costs to the state,” Gray said.

Last spring, the General Assembly passed and Governor Markell signed into law Senate Joint Resolution 2, requiring an inventory and review of all assessments currently administered at the state, district and school level “with the goal of decreasing the testing burden on students and teachers and increasing time available for teaching.”

This work continues. Districts and charter schools, which were eligible for supporting state grants, submitted their assessment inventories, recommendations, and impact information to the state at the end of December. The department has convened an assessment inventory committee with representatives from the House and Senate education committees, Delaware State Education Association, state superintendents, civil rights community and parents to make recommendations. The state’s final report must be published by June 2016.

Sen. David Sokola, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Rep. Earl Jaques, chair of the House Education Committee, lauded today’s announcement.

“This is the kind of change legislators were seeking when we approved SJR 2 to create a task force to fully review our student testing,” Sokola said. “This is a good first step toward removing burdens on our students and increasing instruction time for teachers, while also providing them with the important metrics needed to gauge student progress.”

Jaques agreed, “This decision eliminates duplicative testing and reduces over-testing while helping to ease student stress and parental concerns.”

The department has posted information and will continue updating its website with information, including resources for districts/charters and the public, regularly. Educators or families with questions may email assessment@doe.k12.de.us or call (302) 857-3391.

As students prepare for the spring SAT, they also have some extra help this year. A partnership with Khan Academy and the College Board offerspersonalized SAT preparation based on students’ PSAT results. Delaware also provides the PSAT free to all public school 10^th graders.

Alison May
alison.may@doe.k12.de.us
(302) 735-4006

Sign the Petition Supporting the Override of Delaware HB50 Veto – Opt Out Bill

Please take a minute to sign the petition, I signed it and I hope you will as well.

Sign the petition to override Delaware House Bill 50 Veto.

The below was taken from the Delaware PTA Petition page.

It is a parent’s fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children!

HB 50 was legislation sponsored by Rep John Kowalko which provided a consistent process to allow Delaware parents to opt their child(ren) out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment without fear of punishment or reprisal from district and school administration. The Bill also required meaningful academic instruction for those students not participating in the test. In its simplest form, HB 50 would secure a parent’s right to opt their child(ren) out of the assessment if they believe it is in the best interest of their child. The Bill acknowledged the parent’s right to protect their child from unnecessary and harmful tests. At its core, HB 50 was proposed legislation that would place students first.

With an overwhelming majority (86% in the House and 71% in the Senate), the bill passed at the end of June. Yet, despite the vote of the General Assembly and the strong public support expressed for HB 50 by educators through DSEA, parents and families, the state PTA, and school administrations the Governor vetoed this bill.

HB 50 was, and is, not about one specific test – the Smarter Balanced Assessment, despite what opponents would suggest.  Supporters of the bill are not suggesting or encouraging parents to opt out of state assessments, whether it’s the SBA or another assessment.  Rather, we believe this is the right of the family and a decision that should be left in the capable hands of parents to decide what is best for their children.

Delaware PTA, as well as the majority of HB 50 supporters, is not, and never has been anti-assessment. We support standardized tests, if they are limited, developmentally appropriate and provide useful instructional feedback. The Smarter Balanced Assessment does none of this. Assessments, regardless of which one is used, have to be judged against their intended uses. The SBAC was not designed to meet the needs of students and teachers; it was designed to meet the needs of the state, to allow state level and inter-consortia comparisons of student performance. For years parents and teachers were led to believe that No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top initiatives would help identify at risk students and schools, allowing state officials to direct resources and supports to our most neediest schools in an attempt to reduce the achievement gap. In fact, all that has happened under these initiatives were attempts to label, punish and close our schools. Yet, we are to believe that the new Smarter Balanced Assessments will do more than prior assessments and initiatives, and that the Smarter Balanced Assessments are necessary to reduce the achievement gap.

However, regardless of our beliefs about the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the issue at hand is the parent’s right. Current state code does not contain any language that prohibits the parent/guardians from opting their student out of the state assessment. Many school and district officials have already confirmed that they cannot and will not force a student to participate in the assessment. HB 50 simply codifies this – ensuring that the decision maintains the parent’s.

Folks You Should be Paying Attention to This – Information on Statewide Review of Educational Opportunities

Yesterday during the State Board meeting, they gave an update on the Statewide Review of Educational Opportunities (SREO) – formed through House Bill 56. I would pay close attention to this and DOE and the State Board’s recommendations which will be released next month at the December State Board meeting. I am not sure if the State Board and DOE are heading in the direction of the bill’s original intent, time will tell if they are or not.

House Bill 56 – Section 2.  There shall be a moratorium on all new charter schools opening until June 30, 2018 or until the State Board of Education develops a strategic plan for the number of charter, district, and vocational-technical schools in the State, whichever occurs first.  The aforementioned strategic plan shall be based on a systematic evaluation of educational needs using national models and best practices that align with the public education system, such as the National Association of Charter School Authorizers guidelines.

If you look at the two guiding questions DOE and the State Board are using, there appears to be some difference between what House Bill 56 was looking to accomplished and what DOE and the State Board are looking to do. Below is a one page document explaining what DOE and the State Board are looking to accomplish. The word that they use in their two guiding questions is “DEMAND”, I know practicable is used as well, I just don’t see best practices.

I know there is demand for more schools like Cab Calloway School of the Arts and Conrad Schools of Science. I know that they have high numbers of families applying to these choice schools and the waitlist numbers are huge. Same goes with Charter School of Wilmington and DMA, very popular schools with our Red Clay families and across district lines. I am interested in seeing DOE and the State Board’s formal recommendations.

View this document on Scribd

• Public Consulting Group (PCG) – was awarded the contract in August
• September started the project
  • Data is being collected from DOE, charters and districts
• October collecting of data and survey responses
• PCG will start the data analysis and working on draft map
• Next week the draft map will be available
• Final report will be given at State Board meeting in December

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.

Redistricting Committee Meeting Update

I attended the Redistricting Committee Meeting today at Red Clay’s District Office located in Baltz Elementary School. Below are a few comments about the meeting. Minutes of the previous meetings can be found here.

• Red Clay School Board will be holding a Special Board Meeting on November 2, 2015 starting at 5:30 at Red Clay’s District Office. The board may be taking action with regards to WEIC.
• Next Redistricting Meeting will be on November 4, 2015 from 4:00 to 6:00 at Red Clay’s District Office.
• The interim reports on the redistricting and funding plans will be released to the public after the November 17, 2015 Commission Meeting. The public will be able to comment on the report.
• Final report due to the State Board of Education on December 17, 2015. The public will be able to comment on the report.
• Colonial School District want to keep their students. Colonial’s data show students are performing well and are equal or above state scores.
  • Dan Rich made a comment back to Colonial School District that WEIC recommendations were not based on test scores.
• Brandywine School District would like to maintain the current school boundaries.
  • Brandywine School Board will bring forward a board resolution at their next school board meeting with regards to WEIC.
• DSEA is very concerned about teachers losing their job because of this plan; district lines being redrawn.
• Dr. Daugherty replied back to DSEA and said Red Clay is not going to guarantee that Red Clay will hire everyone from the Christina schools. Christina schools will become a part of the Red Clay School District.
• All students who wish to remain in current schools will be able to stay and transportation will be provided.
• Timeline for implementation of plan has been moved back a year.
• A comment was made, if the plan is just to move district lines and rename schools and not provide any resources or funding; don’t bother moving any further with this plan.

Delaware Educator Preparation Program Reports Are Now Available

The Delaware Department of Education today released its first annual reports on the state’s teacher and specialist educator preparation programs, providing information ranging from the diversity of programs’ candidate classes to student performance outcomes of graduates to job placement and retention within the state.

Click here to read the report.

Accountability Framework Working Group Update Interesting Meeting

I attended the AFWG Meeting Number 16 yesterday. There were 10 committee members present and 3 members of the public in attendance. Secretary Godowsky popped in and sat in the meeting for a while and thanked everyone for participating. It was really nice seeing the Secretary of Education at this meeting, this was the second time I have seen the Secretary popping into a meeting.

The next steps: share the recommendations with DESS Advisory Committee (stakeholder group), which happened today, State Board will review and hopefully accept recommendations as presented (State Board representative indicated the board may not accept the recommendations as presented), and then the approved recommendations from the State Board are sent to US DOE.

The members stated again to DOE, what supports are going to be provided to the schools once a school is labeled? We label the schools but there are really no supports in place.

A school can become a Focus, Focus Plus, Priority, Action, Watch, Reward, Recognition, or a Blue Ribbon School.

• DOE reported they must add a consequence for not meeting participation rate. The group decided on the following:
  • School must write a plan for how they will address low participation rates.
  • Cannot be a reward school if the participation rates is less than 95% using NEAP.
• DOE did state the Governor recommended and would prefer the multiplier for schools that are below 95% only, as the consequence the participation rate, but members stated they did not agree with that choice.
• The group decided on using a 0 to 500 point system.

The group was made up of district and charter administrators, a PTA, a DSEA, and a State Board representative. Most of them really did not like labeling the schools especially with no permanent supports in place. I really appreciated the conversation of the group. The group made it clear over and over that they did not like the system but knew most of it was being driven by the feds.

During the conversation, I got the impression that the Governor wanted certain things to come out of this group and I got the same impression from the State Board representative. Why do you put these committees/groups in place and waste their valuable time away from their schools if we are not going to listen to them, they are the experts. I hope the Governor and the State Board will respect the opinion of the experts and keep the final recommendations from the Accountability Framework Working Group as is. It will be interesting to see what the State Board does at their October 15th meeting.

Accountability Framework Working Group Update

I attended the Accountability Framework Working Group (AFWG) meeting on September 23rd from 1:30 to 4:45. I was the only member of the public present. The working group is made up of school/district members, a DSEA member, a parent member and a State Board member. The group is responsible for developing and recommending a new, multiple measure accountability system called Delaware School Success Framework. It does concern me that the State Board has a seat on this group and my reason for my concern is the State Board ultimately will approve these recommendations.

The AFWG was to finalize their recommendations at this last meeting, they could not come to an agreement on a rating system, so another meeting is scheduled. Most members do not support the use of ANY rating system other than what is federally required and most members do not agree with the federal mandates either. Most members of this group are outraged that we continue to label our schools causing damage that takes years to undo and the lack of support they receive after being branded as failures.

The AFWG recommendations must be completed before October 6th Delaware Education Support System (DESS) Advisory Council meeting. DESS is the stakeholder group which is to provide guidance on the overall Delaware Education Support System, guidance on enhancements to the Education Success Planning and Evaluation System, guidance on Title 1 Implementation and recommend changes to the Accountability Workbook and focus on Professional Development. You will see the DESS Advisory Council mentioned throughout Delaware’s ESEA Flex Waiver.

DESS Advisory and NCLB Stakeholders merged back in May of 2010. Our new Secretary of Education, Steve Godowsky, was a member of this group (New Castle County Votech) and was chair of the council in July of 2010.

The recommendations from AFWG must be to the State Board by October 15th. The State Board of Education will vote on the recommendations and then the recommendations must be presented to US DOE by the end of October.

• AFWG members want to know what supports will be in place before recommending ratings.
• They want a rating system in place that is least damaging to schools.
• Members are against 1 to 100 scale.
• One member stated that the A through F ratings system is like a restaurant rating system.
• Members commented on how they could send final recommendations to the State Board and how the State Board/Secretary could overturn their recommendations.
  • Members commented that Secretary Murphy did exactly that. The lowest performing schools were to be selected as priority schools. Secretary Murphy did not select the lowest performing schools, he selected the schools he wanted as priority schools.
• Members commented that the US DOE Accountability System is just a NAME and BLAME game.

Items that have been agreed to:

• Proposed 5/6 Year Graduation Calculation
• Accounting for Significant Gaps
  • Option 2 – gap between student gap group and non student gap group performance is greater than the state average gap.
• Participation Rate must be included in the accountability system, this is a federal requirement.
  • No school under 95% participation may receive a highest performance rating. The group selected this one, they selected the one that is least destructive.