The hard work has begun; after a short celebration for Delaware’s nearly $50M award for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge, the Governor’s Office and Departments of Education, Health and Social Services, and Services for Children, Youth, and their Families are beginning to build capacity to implement all our commitments.

Two initiatives were launched in the last week—the beginning of the statewide Kindergarten Entry Assessment and the roll out of Help Me Grow, which is a resource for services for young children.

On February 6, Delaware’s Department of Education  released its first Request for Proposals (RFP) for a research partner to help develop the Kindergarten Entry Assessment, a prominent feature of our application and something specifically highlighted in Governor Markell’s State of the State speech.  The research partner will help the state design an assessment that is appropriate for different populations of students, meets the needs of educators and policymakers, and is not overly burdensome to administer. In the design phase, we will have to address a number of questions, such as:

• How can we make sure an observation-based assessment is valid and reliable?
• How can we align it with existing initiatives, including other assessments conducted in Kindergarten classrooms and with DPAS II (which relies on student assessment)?
• How do we provide a direct assessment (of children that is not observation based) that can be used for policymaking and research purposes?
• And how do we make sure they are appropriate for kindergarteners from all backgrounds?

To provide assistance, a Kindergarten Entry Assessment Advisory Committee will be formed, and the tool will be piloted in 5% of classrooms beginning in fall 2012, with ongoing evaluation and review. We can also learn from many other states and districts who have already implemented these policies, as well as a great body of research on the topic.

Last week’s Help Me Grow Summit launched the initiative in Delaware (which is funded through national foundations but supported by and integrated with the state’s Early Learning Challenge Race to the Top plan). Help Me Grow is a resource center that United Way will operate through the 2-1-1 line for parents, healthcare providers, and child care centers. Service providers will be identified to help meet young children’s needs, and research demonstrates that earlier detection and treatment produces more effective treatment and fewer costs later in the child’s life.

The state’s strategy is out of the starting gates; now we need to make sure we stay on the track. Look for more RFPs, announcements, and job postings for the grant-funded positions in the coming weeks to help us do just that.

We are pleased to announce that Delaware was selected as a recipient of the federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grant!  Delaware is one of nine states to be awarded a grant out of 37 total applicants.  The U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly announced the winning applications on December 16.  Delaware’s grant of $49.9 million will be implemented during 2012-2015, allowing for a twelve-fold increase in the number of high-need children with access to high quality early childhood education.

With the help of significant participation and support from a range of stakeholders in the early childhood and K-12 sectors, Delaware crafted a high quality application that crosses state agencies and includes many partners.  The Early Learning Challenge is an unprecedented opportunity for Delaware to build on the momentum from Governor Markell’s recent $22 million investment in early childhood and the state’s K-12 Race to the Top win to accelerate programs and initiatives that will lead to profound improvements in early learning.

Delaware’s application focuses on supporting the “whole child” needs of young children and their families, building a professional and effective workforce and strengthening Stars to drive high-quality programming.  It also creates a unique opportunity to execute policies within a birth to age 8 framework that aligns the early childhood and K-12 systems.

Here are several examples of how children, families, educators and programs will benefit from Delaware’s Early Learning Challenge grant:

• In Delaware, the “readiness gap” will be reduced and more children will enter school prepared for kindergarten due to a higher-quality service providers and strong collaboration between the early childhood and K-12 sectors.
• In the next three years, the number of programs participating in Stars will increase from 140 to nearly 1,000.
• Early childhood educators will benefit from enhanced compensation that will help recruit educators to high-need programs, supplement salaries for those who advance professionally, and retain effective educators.
• The Kids Department will double its annual capacity to provide mental health consultation services to early care and education programs statewide.
• Families will benefit from improved communication about Stars, the importance of program quality, and how to access services for their young children.

With a strong foundation in place and added support from the Early Learning Challenge, it is the hope that Delaware will become a national model for an outstanding early childhood system.  Congratulations and thank you to DSCYF, DOE, DHSS and all of the stakeholders and partners who contributed to the application or submitted letters of support!

In a continuing trend of superintendent turnover in Delaware, two school district superintendents announced last night their intent to resign their respective posts in June 2012.

Christina School District Superintendent, Dr. Marcia V. Lyles, announced at last night’s school board meeting that she will not be seeking renewal of her contract.  Also last night, Sharon Kanter, Superintendent of Milford School District, indicated she will leave her post at the end of the school year.

These latest leadership changes follow closely on the heels of the replacement for Dr. Russell Knorr in the Seaford School District.  Dr. Shawn Joseph, former director of school performance for the Montgomery County School in Maryland will assume the superintendent position in February 2012.

For 2011, these superintendent resignations bring the total to 9 out of 19 school districts that are experiencing turnover.  This does not take into account some expected movement in the Laurel School District, to select a permanent superintendent to fill the role being held by Acting Superintendent Dr. Dorothy Nave.

This almost 50% leadership change over 2011 and 2012 is happening as the state is in the first implementation year of Race to the Top, and it will be interesting to see how these transitions impact the process.

Continue to read our blog for the latest Delaware education updates.

On October 19, 2011 Delaware submitted an ambitious application for a roughly $50 million share of the $500 million federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) competitive grant.  According to the U.S. Department of Education, Delaware was one of 35 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico to submit an application.

Delaware’s plan builds on the momentum of the state’s recent commitment of $22 million in annual funds to support high-quality early childhood programming for high-needs children as well as the state’s exceptional foundation – nationally recognized health and nutrition licensing standards; implementation of a tiered QRIS, Delaware Stars; strong public-private partnerships; and legislative oversight by the Interagency Resource Management Committee (IRMC) and Early Childhood Council (ECC).  The key goals presented in the application are to accelerate advancement of the state’s system of supports and services for young children and their families and enhance current practice to become an outstanding national model.

These goals will be achieved through targeted focus on four specific activity areas:

• Addressing the “whole child” health and development needs of children 0-5 through the extension of Help Me Grow (Delaware’s statewide framework for coordinating supports to children and families), support for the state’s evidence-based home visiting programs, as well as the expansion of developmental screening of all children participating in Stars programs and mental health consultation and nutrition support to early childhood programs.
• Building a professional and effective workforce through a compensation strategy – targeted to programs serving children with high needs – that provides recruitment bonuses of $1,000 to qualified educators and wage enhancements of up to $4,000 as incentive for improvement and retention.
• Strengthening Stars, Delaware’s QRIS, as the mechanism to drive high-quality programming through increasing purchase of care reimbursement rates, implementing a tiered reimbursement policy for programs participating in Stars, enhancing technical assistance, designing alternate pathways to participation as well as launching a Stars communications campaign.  100% Stars participation is anticipated for licensed child care centers, Head Start and Early Head Start programs and state-funded pre-k (ECAP), with aggressive targets also set for family child care providers and other state-regulated programs.
• Executing a birth to age 8 approach to school readiness through the development of “readiness teams” aligning early childhood to K-12 and implementation of a phased kindergarten entry assessment pilot with full implementation by fall 2015.

The bold programs and policies presented in Delaware’s application are supported by stakeholder groups from across the state; 43 letters of support were submitted from early care and education providers, K-12 districts and teachers, higher education institutions, private sector partners, community partners and government officials among others.   The foundation, plan for advancement, and support included in Delaware’s application will lend positively to the state’s competitiveness in the national landscape.  Funding decisions are expected to be announced by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services in December with funds to be released by the end of the calendar year.