WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
11 Business Days until school starts. 11 Business days until you put your kids on school buses or drive them into their choice schools. 11 days and you have no idea how your school stacks up on the failure/success scale because the Department of Education is withholding AYP ratings from you and your school board.
The policy on face value is to withhold the findings until they have been thoroughly vetted. That's DOE's excuse. It's the national excuse for DOEs through-out the US.
HERE'S YOUR PROBLEM, PARENTS:
You and I don't know how our schools rate. Under NCLB, we have the right to transfer our children to a higher performing school if our feeder school does not make adequate progress, but we can't do this until we know which schools made AYP. Delaware DOE will release the AYP rankings on FRIDAY, AUGUST 26th. Our students will report back to school the following MONDAY, AUGUST 29th. Your child may start their school year in a failing school and then endure a transfer and transition to a new higher performing school if you desire to move your student to that higher performing school. Imagine the complications if the nearest higher performing school is in another district - inter-district transfers? Oh, my!
DELAWARE's DOE IS SUBVERTING YOUR RIGHTS UNDER NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND. This wretched policy must go. DOE needs to be held to a higher standard that ensures these rankings are released early enough in the summer for you to make educated decisions regarding your child before the school year starts.
Parents, what are you going to do to protect your rights? First, don't fall for "The Excuse." Parents in other states aren't. They are asking questions and demanding change. Second, consider "friending" the Deputy Sec. of Education and ask him to change the policy. For important links, visit: http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/doe-now-providing-preliminary-ayp-reports-to-subordinate-employees-of-school-boards-while-excluding-the-schoold-boards-netde/
Georgia released AYP results in July. Unhappy parents criticize DOE for late release: http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/07/21/do-ayp-transfers-create-solutions-for-kids-or-new-problems-for-schools/
Oregon DOE releases AYP in early August: http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=131300831058681700
North Carolina releases preliminary AYP results in July: http://www.whiteville.com/articles/2011/07/28/news/doc4e2d995c95f04061558291.txt
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