Delaware continues to have one of the nation’s best educational data infrastructures and is a “cutting edge” state to learn from, according to the Data Quality Campaign’s (DQC) recently released 2012 Annual Report. Since last year’s report, Delaware continued to strengthen our data system and make it more timely and actionable for teachers, administrators, and families as one of the priorities in its winning Race to the Top plan, and it seems the investment is paying off.

By now, we’re used to being at the head of the pack; in 2007, we were one of only four states with all of DQC’s “essential elements” for effective data use and last year we were one of only four states that had completed at least 8 of the 10 “state actions to ensure effective data use.” This year we have accomplished a ninth, having ensured that all relevant stakeholders, particularly students and parents, have access to student data through resources such as the Education Insight Portal and student dashboards. According to DQC’s report, only one other state (Arkansas) has done as much as we have.

Other states have made improvements as well, but as a nation, there is still more work to be done. In a trend seen across the country, many states are continuing to make progress in supporting effective data use by collecting data and building a quality infrastructure but have yet to focus on what DQC calls the hardest work—helping people, especially parents, teachers, and students, use this data effectively.  

In Delaware, this is where we’ve focused our recent efforts. Our data coaches and school-wide professional learning communities (PLCs), big investments in our Race to the Top plan which have helped ensure that our teachers and principals not only have data but know how to use this data to inform their instruction. And in the past year several state teacher preparation programs have added data literacy to their training, something that is now a requirement for certification/licensure. But our work isn’t done either—our remaining task is to share educator effectiveness data with educator preparation programs, something only a small handful of states have done. 

As the state continues to increase its focus on developing our teachers and leaders, this is a natural next step that will give preparation programs the information they need to improve the training they give to their candidates. In fact, as part of our Race to the Top plan, this is something our leaders have already committed to doing. So perhaps next year, we’ll be able to say we were the first to reach a perfect ten!

After an incredible effort by both the finalists and our staff, several different editorials and great news coverage, and a truly inspiring upswell of community engagement, today is the last day of voting for the iEducate Delaware finalists. The website has seen an incredible amount of traffic, and Facebook and Twitter have been abuzz with excitement and enthusiasm.
 
If you missed it, here are links to some of the coverage:
·         Our blog
·         Town Square Delaware (twice)
·         Cape Gazette twice
·         The News Journal (twice)
 
It has been a truly inspiring time learning about these stories, and there’s still time to participate! Voting will officially close tonight at midnight, which leaves enough time for you to vote up to three more times. And don’t forget, you can join the conversation on Twitter by tweeting your support for a finalist and even by making a pledge and sharing how you will “iEducate” Delaware students this school year.
 
We will announce the honorees in the coming weeks, and recognize them at the Vision 2015 Fall Conference, during which you’ll be able to read details on how they’re going to use the $2,000 grant awards. There will be lots to talk about at the conference, where district leaders, principals, teachers, and others will share their work related to Common Core implementation, parent engagement, data use, personalized learning, and other critical topics. Mark your calendars.
 
So what are you waiting for? Go vote, and we’ll see you at the conference!

A recent opinion in The News Journal caught my eye, talking about the virtues of holding students back early on (in the 3^rd grade) and opining that this will ultimately make them more successful in school.

As a former 2^nd grade teacher, my natural instinct in discussing this issue is to approach with caution. I agree with the article that social promotion is an important topic—but it’s a complicated one, and far more nuanced than a one-size-fits-all policy would suggest. The editorial board states that holding students back makes them “less likely to be held back again” whereas “evidence shows that [social promotion] is more likely setting up those students for failure.” Since I’m a data-focused person, I took a look at these statements.

The North Central Regional Education Laboratory has an article that cites a number of studies that talk about the detrimental effects of social promotion. And a piece published in 2007 compared the reading performance of students who had been held back compared to their socially promoted peers, finding slight gains in the first year after retention, and substantial gains in the second. So it seems the claim has support.

But hold on—it seems that’s only one side of the picture. This site provides an overview of the discussion, citing a number of articles that discuss the negative social and emotional effects of student retention. And a research series examining Chicago’s push to end social promotion in the late 1990s finds not only issues with implementation, but states in its final article: “Did retaining these low-achieving students help? The answer to this question is definitely no.”  In the present state of cash-strapped school systems across the country, the estimated $10,000 per student that retention costs is a high price to pay if a strategy isn’t going to work.

As you dig further, it seems that in reality the data on the effects of “retention” or “social promotion” as a whole are decidedly mixed. As is too often the case in education issues, the problem is far more complex than can be boiled down into a sound bite, and much less black and white than politicians such as Gov. Kasich (who was quoted in the editorial) would like. Forcing students to spend another year learning the same material fails just as poorly as pushing students ahead without a plan for intense remediation and support. Every student is different, and the success of a policy depends on its implementation and the amount of support the student gets. (As a side note, it’ll be interesting to see how personalized learning and efforts like School of One play into all of this…but that’s a topic for another time).

My experience? I held back some students and socially promoted others. In either case, an entire team of us (including parents and oftentimes the student) developed a plan for success that included summer remediation and intensive support during the following school year. Instead of a hard and fast policy, we looked holistically at the progress of the student through the year, the social maturity of the student, and a host of other factors—including the opinion of the parents, who were involved in the process from the beginning.  Which strategy worked better in the end? Both.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think about social promotion?

Last week the Center for American Progress released a report with an interesting finding: students say their classwork is too easy.  The researchers reviewed student responses to the survey that accompanies NAEP (a national assessment known as “the nation’s report card”). Yet, the researchers found that less than 40% of students in 2011 were proficient in reading or math. Here are some highlights of what they found:

• Math classes are too easy. More than a third of 4^th graders (a higher percent than those who were deemed proficient on NAEP) say their math instruction is too easy. More than a third of 8^th graders say they are “learning” only some of the time in class; this number rises to over half by 12^th grade.
• Students are reading and writing too little. Almost a third of 8^th graders report reading five or fewer pages a day during school and at home combined. A slightly higher number said they wrote long answers on reading tests less than three times a year.  The number increases by 12^th grade, with many also saying they rarely identify main themes in or summarize passages.
• It’s even worse in other subjects. Almost three quarters of the nation’s 8^th grade science students say they don’t learn about engineering and technology. Over half of 8^th and 12^th graders said their history and civics courses were often or always too easy.

Researchers reported that they also found that these statistics were worse in some areas for racial/ethnic subgroups and low-income students. Delaware students’ answers are close to the national average.

It’ll be interesting to see how these responses change during next year’s administration of NAEP, especially in Delaware. With the state’s implementation of higher standards with Common Core, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and data tracking to inform instruction, and the renewed effort to support more students in more AP/IB courses, I would expect students to report feeling more engaged and challenged. In the meantime, parents, administrators, and especially teachers should take note of the report and continue finding new ways to make sure their students are learning.