In the midst of its third year of Race to the Top education reform, Delaware received some validation of its work to date from the U.S. Department of Education in its report on the grant program’s second year. The report acknowledged Delaware as a top performer among the 12 states participating in Race to the Top, a voluntary initiative meant to kick start education reform.
“It’s not really reporting on anything new,” said Sara Kerr, chief performance officer for the Race to the Top Delivery Unit at Delaware Department of Education. She noted that national level observers that don’t have every day knowledge of RTTT programs might find the report more interesting. Still, she welcomes the feedback.
“This has been a huge investment and it is a journey. When you’re in the thick of it, it’s kind of hard to see the forest for the trees. This is kind of a reminder of the scale of work that states like Delaware have undertaken and a reminder of both the work that has been accomplished and the work that lies ahead,” said Kerr while conceding its not “the most timely report.” ”It’s a nice document to use as validation as well as to underscore the importance of staying the course despite the ongoing challenges.”
Those challenges, cited by the DOE and acknowledged by the Delaware department, include implementing the DPAS II teacher evaluation system and recruiting good teachers.
The evaluation system was put into practice this year after an extended research period including educators throughout the state. USDOE officials acknowledged Delaware administrators’ work to get those evaluations online.
“The second specific challenge is (teacher) recruitment and preparation,” Kerr said. “We feel we’ve invested a renewed amount of time and attention in the last six to eight months (since the report). We’ve created initiatives to be sure we are preparing, recruiting, supporting and retaining top-notch educators.”
She said a statewide recruitment portal will be launched soon in addition to the partnerships and grants the state has with teacher preparation programs. Kerr said she believes the department is dealing with its challenges “head on.”
The state is in the third year of the four-year program and is receiving $119 million of federal funds in all to close achievement gaps and graduate students who are “career and college ready.” The state is also receiving $49.9 million in Race to the Top funds to work on early childhood education.
Federal officials said all 12 states participating in Race to the Top have made strides in creating conditions for reform, transitioning to college and career-ready standards, building better systems in which to collect and analyze data including student growth, supporting great teachers and school leaders, and turning around low performing schools. Both national and state administrators, however, see the RTTT reform as a marathon rather than a sprint, noting the report only goes to the halfway point of the grant.
Kerr said USDOE officials will be on-site in the state in February to collect data for year three’s report.
“The fact that we’re being recognized (in the 2011-2012 report) as having made pretty substantial progress is encouraging for us to hear,” she said. “The message we take away is yes we’ve made tremendous progress and yes there’s tremendous work ahead and we have as strong as a commitment as we ever have to continue to work and plow down the work ahead.”