Have you seen Delaware's RTTT money?

Last I heard, Delaware still had not received its first RTTT payment.  Now, if I'm wrong and the money has quietly flowed into the state, please correct me and ignore the rest of this post :) And if I'm right, who knows where you'll end up?

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Delaware's own Governor, Jack Markell, is co-chair (with Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia) of the NGA Lead Governors on Common Core Standards Committee. Markell also chairs NGA's Education, Early Childhood and Workforce Committee.
So, to be fair, the Common Core Standards are cloaked in state-domain (and I have chosen my words carefully b/c I do believe there is a federal overstep being committed) and Delaware seems to have had  its share of influence in the process. (good ,if you support Jack's Blueprint for Education; bad, if you champion local control.) But, then, why is Delaware's official adoption of the standards so late in coming? School opens in just weeks and the DeDOE is only now, at its August meeting, bringing the standards to the State BOE for action.

"If you've been following the common-standards coverage in this blog, you know that Aug. 2 was a big-deal day, because states vying for Race to the Top money got maximum points if they had adopted the standards by then. When the RTT Round 2 finalists were announced, we noted that nearly all states that had won a grant (in Round 1) or were still in the running for one (Round 2) had adopted the standards.

Then it came down to one: Delaware was the only one of the RTT winners or contenders that had not yet adopted the common standards." (It won a grant in Round 1.) (Deadlines, Delaware, and the Common by Catherine Gewertz, Curriculum Matter Blog, August 10, 2010)

Veteran Education Week reporters Catherine Gewertz and Erik Robelen bring you news and analysis of issues at the core of classroom learning.

Yes, it's come down to Delaware, the last RTTT hangover when it comes to the standards. Gewertz did ferret out the reasons for our lateness (click the link above to read them in full) -- the unexpected, delayed release of the final standards product that threw off the timeline promised in our RTTT application (we cited June as the month that we would officially adopt). Furthermore, the feds and DeDOE have had a dialogue about the process developed to adopt them (it passes the litmus test.) As Gewertz blogs "So it seems that unforeseen events, good intentions, and a clear plan seem to have made the Aug. 2 date a bit more flexible for Delaware." Statisticians also believe that even without the 20 points automaticially awarded for adopting the standards, Delaware still would have won in the first round. Lucky Delaware, and a real shame for all the states that will not WIN Race funds and have aleady committed their states to fast-tracked standards.

But, it all raises a question in my mind, and without intending to, I think Gewertz gives us an answer: Why hasn't Delaware received the first of its Race to the Top winnings? Gewertz blogs:

"Spokesman Justin Hamilton said that Ed is keeping a close eye on how states are progressing with the plans they outlined in their Race to the Top applications. He noted that RTT money can only be drawn down by states in chunks, as they reach key milestones in that work.

"If we determine at any point along the way that a state is not holding to the commitment it made in its application, it could put its funding in jeopardy," he said."

Is Arne Duncan holding onto Delaware's funding until the State Board of Education formally adopts the Common Core Standards? Is he waiting for Delaware to reach that key milestone?  Time will tell...

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The Markell/Denn Plan for Education Reform -- On the right track!

From the State of Delaware Website:

Markell, Denn Unveil Education Reform Legislation

Governor Jack Markell and Lieutenant Governor Matthew Denn joined Senate Education Committee Chair David Sokola and House Education Committee Chair Terry Schooley today to unveil legislation designed to dramatically improve Delaware’s public schools and qualify Delaware for federal dollars that President Obama’s administration will be awarding to states with forward-looking public school systems. The elected officials were joined by Education Secretary Lillian Lowery and leaders of the Delaware Parent Teachers Association and the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, who emphasized the importance of reform to parents and the state’s economy.

The bills, co-sponsored by twenty other Senators and Representatives from both political parties, seek to:

• Eliminate the Delaware State Testing Program and replace it with a testing program that measures student progress over the course of a school year.
• Pay the state's highest-performing teachers a comparatively higher salary, and those high-performing teachers in high-risk schools at the state's highest salary level. This portion of the plan would not go into effect until the state's current budget situation improves, and might begin on a pilot basis in individual school districts.
• Provide local schools and districts with substantially more discretion to make financial and other decisions that make sense for the kids they serve, while simultaneously holding them more accountable for spending their funds responsibly.

Governor Markell said, "This agenda will help deliver the kind of change our system needs to prepare students to become active citizens and succeed in an increasingly competitive economy. The historic challenges facing Delaware demand we do more with the limited resources we have and encourage innovation. The reforms we are proposing will make our education system even stronger."

Lieutenant Governor Denn noted that the bills would be important any year, but were particularly important in light of President Obama's focus on funding school innovation. "These bills should be passed on the merits, because they are good for our schools and good for kids," Denn said. "But now there is an additional reason. President Obama, through the federal stimulus bill, has made billions of dollars available in competitive grants for states that demonstrate that they are pursuing real education reform. The types of things these bills do, especially rewarding high-performing teachers, are things the President is specifically seeking, and will make Delaware far more likely to receive substantial new federal money for education."

President of the State PTA, Bud Mullin, added "Delaware PTA supports these bills, as they align with our support of the goals of Vision 2015, which we voted on at our convention in 2007. These bills start the process toward this vision by targeting the goals of transparency in finances, teacher professionalism, and assessment and accountability. We thank the Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary Lowery and the legislative sponsors and hope to see other bills supporting the vision in the future."

The bills were drafted after Lieutenant Governor Denn and Secretary Lowery hosted a dozen "Back to School" briefings to get public input across the state, and drew hundreds of participants in person and online. The briefings started a statewide dialogue on education reform centered on four main topics:

• Rewarding teachers who volunteer to serve in at-risk schools
• Replacing the DSTP with a better system for measuring performance
• Cutting cumbersome regulations and allowing more decision-making discretion
• Giving schools more funding discretion, but also holding them accountable
  

Each of the Back to School briefings are available to listen to by podcast in the Lieutenant Governor's website,

www.ltgov.delaware.gov

Some examples of specific ideas that were spawned by the public and written into the bills are:

• A requirement that teacher evaluation not be based entirely upon formal assessment
• A requirement that 10% of funds available for performance pay be awarded to schools that show objective improvement in student performance rather than individual teachers
• A provision allowing performance pay to be implemented on a pilot basis in individual districts.
• A requirement of uniformity and transparency in record-keeping and accounting by local school districts.
• Changing the unit count date from September to April in order to allow districts to compete with other states for new teachers.
• A requirement of consultation with parents and teachers by local schools or districts before seeking relief from any rule or regulation.

"Delaware has got to do better in education, and these bills are the change we need," added Senator Sokola, Chair of the Senate Education Committee. "We must support our teachers, give kids a chance to succeed, and allow more decision making power at the local level, and these bills do exactly that."

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