Delaware is moving right along with Race to the Top education reform, despite a few challenges faced during the program’s first year, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education.
Delaware and Tennessee were awarded the first Race to the Top grants in the nation in March 2010 and the First State is using $119 million in federal funds over the four years to jump start education reform. The goal of the competitive, voluntary grants is to make students “Career and College Ready” by closing student achievement gaps by 50 percent by 2015.
Programs aimed to improve education in Delaware run the gamut from targeting the lowest performing schools in the state to training principals in time management to free them from administrative duties that keep them from being “instructional leaders” in the classroom. (See recent DFM News coverage of Delaware's Race to the Top initiatives here and here)
Delaware’s challenges during the first year of Race to the Top funding [the 2010-2011 school year] included finding qualified staff for positions to support Race to the Top, according to the report, as was reconciling all of the individual programs put in place in individual schools to the larger context of a statewide reform.
Delaware Department of Education Secretary Lillian Lowery said it was important to Delaware officials that “we treated our individual districts and charter schools as different entities with their own sets of challenges,” even if that meant extra administrative work and communication.
However, the main challenge Delaware faced in its first year of Race to the Top reforms is ongoing. While working toward implementing a new Delaware Performance Appraisal System, Delaware’s Department of Education has run into difficulty defining “student growth measures.” While that portion of the teacher evaluations is refined and defined, full implementation has been postponed. (See recent DFM News coverage of DPAS implementation here)
“In addition, the State encountered a challenge in implementing a teacher and leader evaluation system due to the complexity, time, and effort required to identify or develop the student growth measures for teachers in grades and subjects not already tested by the assessments …” according to the report. “The State is working to address this challenge, but had to delay by one year the use of the evaluation system to inform certain personnel decisions.”
Discussions with teachers, other school staff, union representatives and state administrators continue in an effort to create a fair evaluation, Lowery said. “Those very close to the work are aware of the changes we’re making, it’s continuing to evolve. We are getting feedback and taking that feedback earnestly.”
The extension for new teacher and principal evaluations is for one year. The new evaluations should be in place for the 2012-2013 school year.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan applauded all of the Race to the Top states for “ambitious” plans and for taking great strides in the program’s inaugural year and pledged ongoing support.
"Over the last year, Delaware made a great deal of progress while also facing some setbacks. This is challenging work that will take continued commitment and collaboration. As Delaware's work continues, we will support their efforts to overcome any obstacles and move forward with reform,” Duncan said in a released statement.
There were no surprises in the U.S. DOE report, Lowery said. “I am pleased with the report,” she said. “And that we all know we’re being held accountable for what is to come.”
Through support provided by U.S. DOE including weekly phone conferences and on-site evaluations, Lowery said she is constantly in touch with the department about developments in Delaware schools.
Support also includes facilitating collaboration on the road to education reform and on Thursday and Friday Lowery, along with district superintendents and other school administrators, will participate in a conference in Washington, D.C., meeting with other Race to the Top awardees to discuss developments and problems in instituting reform initiatives.
Individual reports were released for each of the 12 grantee states and those reports were largely positive. Though Florida and New York are facing serious challenges with Race to the Top reforms, only one state, Hawaii, has been labeled “at risk” of losing its grant.
Race to the Top is a $4 billion federal program overall. Most recently, Delaware was awarded Early Childhood Learning four-year grant worth just under $50 million in the third phase of competition.