State Board of Education Moves Delaware Forward

The Delaware State Board of Education held their monthly meeting Thursday.  In the meeting, they covered numerous topics that are of significant importance to education within the First State.  Topics covered included:

• Race to the Top: The DOE highlighted that all district scope of work applications were approved by the United States Department of Education for implementation during the first year.  However, the DOE is requiring that all districts resubmit scopes of work that are “innovative” for funds to be utilized during years two through four.
• Common Core Standards: Delaware became the 37th state nationwide to adopt the rigorous Common Core Standards, elevating our low-scoring standards to best practices nationwide.
• DCAS: Throughout August, numerous stakeholders from around Delaware collaborated to identify cut scores across grades and subjects that determine student proficiency.  These groups, recognizing that current student performance is both stagnant and behind rigorous national and international benchmarks, vowed to continue increasing standards until student performance aligns with current expectations for global college and workforce readiness.
• DPAS II: The Delaware Department of Education updated the State Board on the development of student growth metrics as required by recent regulatory changes.  The DOE highlighted that Delaware is at the forefront of national efforts, along with Colorado, to tie student performance to teacher effectiveness. 
• School Accountability: The DOE covered recently released school accountability ratings, stating that our schools will continue seeing declines in the number of schools deemed superior or commendable unless we raise student performance across the state. 

In addition, the DOE announced that critical state-level positions for Race to the Top implementation had been filled.  Peter Shulman will serve as Leader of the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Unit; Noreen LaSorsa as leader of the School Turnaround Unit; and Jim Palmer as Leader of the Performance Management Unit.