Hundreds of educators from across the First State gathered over the weekend for an all-day conference, kicking off of an important push for Common Core State Standards in Delaware classrooms.
These standards have been developed jointly by teachers, parents and community leaders to provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn at each grade level. To strengthen their roll out in Delaware, the Delaware Department of Education is adding an organized, 18-month initiative to bring administrators and teachers up-to-speed as everyone looks to the first assessment of the Standards during the 2014-15 academic year.
A turn-out of 700 individuals attended the conference held at Dover Downs, with 143 schools represented. Participation in the 18-month project, entitled “Common Ground for the Common Core” is not mandatory, said Shelley Rouser, the organizer from the Delaware Department of Education. She added that the department will continue to work with districts and schools who do not participate in the initiative.
Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy opened the conference and outlined the importance of adopting Common Core curriculum standards, using examples of students who may have gotten through classes and state tests, but were still unprepared for college or a career.
Most U.S. states, including Delaware in August 2010, have adopted the standards, which are designed to add an element of consistency to education on a state-by-state basis. The theory is that as students compete with people across the country in continuing education and the workforce, the Standards create a level playing field that will help them succeed.
The Common Ground for the Common Core initiative will leverage the weekend’s conference to lay the foundation for school and district Common Core plans.
Rouser said the basic outline of the Common Ground project is to provide training for educational leaders, who will submit “a solid implementation plan” by June 30. Districts and schools will then refine those plans over the summer and put them into action throughout the 2013-2014 school year. However, Rouser said, she doesn’t expect everyone in the state to fall into lock step. A quick cell phone poll during Saturday’s opening session showed a broad spectrum of Common Core understanding among attendees.
“One thing we said to our schools when we offered them this responsibility is that we realize they are at different stages of implementation of the Common Core,” Rouser said. She said teams were honest about “where they were in the in the process.”
“We said, ‘Come as you are and we will take you where you need to be,’” she said. “They’re going to be at different stages when they exit, as they were when they came on board.”
The conference included breakout sessions, led by experts from across the country, that addressed building awareness and deepening implementation for English Language Arts and Math at either the elementary or secondary level.
Rouser said those sessions were perfect examples of the different places schools find themselves. Some teams may be ready to deepen their implementation of Mathematics, while just getting up to speed in understanding the English Language Arts standards.
Other sessions delved into taking leadership positions in implementation and addressing literacy challenges embedded in the Standards.
Murphy said he was excited both by the turnout and the energy in the room.
“We know that our schools have been on a journey, many of them, for more than a year now,” he said, adding that this in the midpoint for the implementation journey. He said educators have been telling the DDOE that they want to work together to make the curriculum transition.
“It helps with momentum,” Murphy said. “Educators have been telling us for months it’s important to do this as an entire state.”
“They’re going to take where they have been and where they are right now in their district and their school and be able to utilize what they learn today; they’ll work with each other to just take it to the next level.”
He said after the opening session he heard attendees say the Conference is “just what they needed” and “re-energizing.”