The United States Department of Education recently announced that the original 12 Race to the Top winners will be eligible for “no cost extensions” through 2015 and approved on a case-by-case basis. This decision comes as no surprise since each state has undertaken an enormous amount of work along with being slow to spend all of the available funds. And while no state will receive additional funds, each must provide a strong rationale for why they are requesting the increased time – especially around critical streams of work, such as teacher evaluations.

Here in Delaware, we’ve spent a total of $38.6 million – well below our total award amount of $119 million. And while the data is old and is no doubt lower than expected due to our year-long planning process in 2010-2011 and upcoming launch of certain programs (Delaware Talent Cooperative, etc.), we still have a lot of work left to do in order to meet the obligations we set forth in our application.

I will admit, as my college graduation neared, I intuitively knew that I wanted my professional life to mirror my personal values – and it was this belief that led me to apply for Teach For America. Last week, I was heartened to see the USED expand this type of opportunity to an even greater number of college seniors through their newly launched School Turnaround AmeriCorps.

The program, a joint effort with the Corporation for National and Community Service, is for three years and seeks to engage hundreds of AmeriCorps members in helping turnaround our nation’s persistently low-performing schools. These members will provide opportunities for academic enrichment, extended learning time, and individual supports for students.

The program builds on the successes schools and organizations throughout the country already have engaging AmeriCorps members. MATCH Schools in Boston leverage members’ skills through small group tutoring and extracurricular activities – all while providing access to their teacher training program. Blue Engine in New York places 3-4 BETAs with one lead teacher to work with a cohort of approximately 100 students throughout the academic year by providing small group instruction and leading weekly 50 minute sessions to build the mindsets necessary for success.

It is exciting to see this type of opportunity expanded to many more graduating seniors and I sincerely hope that interested Delawareans jump on this opportunity to bring in extra hands to help educators successfully accomplish this difficult work.

From the Notice:
Public or private nonprofit organizations, including faith-based and other community groups; schools or districts; institutions of higher education; cities and counties; Indian Tribes; and labor organizations are eligible to apply to this program, along with partnerships and consortia of these entities.

If you are interested, a notice of intent to apply must be submitted to the Corporation for National and Community Service by April 2, 2013 via e-mail at: americorpsgrants@cns.gov. Applications are due on April 23, 2013. Grants will be awarded by mid-July.

This is the conclusion of our blog series on education technology for Digital Learning Day. To read the first post in this Digital Learning Day blog series, “A New Vision for Education,” click here. To read  about the role of technology to support personalized learning written by Howard High School of Technology teacher Ashley Sorenson, click here. To read about preparing our schools for digital natives written by Vision 2015 Chair Ernie Dianastasis, click here. To read the about the big steps Delaware schools and districts are making to improve the use of technology to increase student learning, click here.

As we wrap up our blog series on education technology for Digital Learning Day, I keep coming back to one of my favorite television shows growing up, Saved by the Bell. In the show, the main character, Zack Morris, was notorious for carrying around a big, clunky cell phone. Looking through those pictures, it’s clear that technology has made unparalleled strides – so much so that a little over 20 years later, we don’t know how our lives would exist without a cell phone.

To me, Zack Morris’ phone represents the core premise behind efforts throughout Delaware districts and schools to improve the use of technology within classrooms. Because today, what might seem innovative and revolutionary, such as expanding access to online coursework or utilizing technology to enhance students’ learning experiences, will no doubt be looked upon 20 years from now as just the tip of the iceberg. Here at Rodel, we are zeroed in on the unearthing parts of the iceberg that lie underneath the water, which are no doubt significantly larger than any of us are capable of fully grasping at the moment. As we’ve begun to explore this new territory, we’ve come to realize that technology is only one, albeit critical, piece of this much larger iceberg. With that in mind, we’ve expanded our scope beyond the traditional digital learning towards a more ambitious and critical goal, which is expanding access to “personalized learning” experiences for all Delaware students.

The idea behind personalized learning is simple enough – every student is unique. We all have different abilities, interests, and learning styles. The goal of personalized learning is to both recognize and act upon this reality in order to provide tailored instruction to each student. In order to do this well, we must move away from the “one size fits all” approach and empower students to learn at their own time pace, place and approach. This means moving away from our industrial model of education towards more dynamic environments where students receive content in a variety of formats and move through content at their own speed – enabling those who’ve mastered the material to move ahead and those still struggling to receive additional support.

Looking at this, it’s clear that great teachers do this inside their classrooms every day. However, it requires an almost Herculean effort on the part of the teacher to do this well. In order to equip all teachers with the knowledge and skills to do so, we must embrace the role of technology and its ability to fuel this innovation. Technology will open up access to high-quality, student-specific content, facilitate collaboration between students and teachers (per Ashley’s post), and give educators more flexibility and control around how to reach each kid.

If embraced, teachers would reap the most benefits because it allows them to work with students in a more individual or small-group fashion while not losing sight of how the whole class is progressing. In addition, technology connects educators like never before, allowing them to collaborate on their lessons, monitor student development in order to identify problems early on, and engage families through enhanced communication tools. Together, this can help turn teachers into facilitators of students learning.

I’d like to think we’re in the Zack Morris phase of this work – one in which we recognize that what is in our classrooms today is version 1.0 of something much larger and more impactful. With that in mind, Rodel has put together a brief that summarizes personalized learning and jumpstarts a conversation on how all stakeholders throughout the state can think about this work to craft solutions that ensure all students benefit from the potential and promise of personalized learning.

The Delaware State Board of Education’s discussed changes to principal preparation requirements at November’s meeting will increase rigor and align with expectations currently in place as part of the Delaware Leadership Project – solidifying the program’s place as a trailblazer in Delaware.

The standards would require all principal certification programs to have a minimum of 200 hours of coursework, a 600 hour residency under the supervision of an effective or highly effective principal, 100 hours of additional training after the residency, training and calibration in DPAS II, and an evaluation of each candidates’ ability from mentors and teachers upon completion of the program. In addition to changes for certification programs, the State Board of Education made similar changes to traditional courses of study by requiring a minimum of 240 clinical hours throughout the program.

These proposed changes demonstrate Delaware’s commitment to put in place what school leaders on the ground already know – learning about leadership inside a classroom isn’t adequate and a hands-on, clinical experience is necessary to truly attain the essential knowledge and skills for success.

These changes could yield enormous benefits for all potential school leaders and ensure that Delaware schools have principals equipped and ready to build teams of great teachers, develop and manage them, and create good working conditions where they can thrive.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly reported that the Delaware State Board approved these changes. The Board discussed them at the October meeting; however, they remain as proposed. This post has been updated to reflect our correction.