Delaware plans education changes to win federal grant
November 20, 2009
Delaware officials are preparing to overhaul the way the state turns around failing schools and evaluates teachers in an effort to win a potential $75 million federal education grant.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan plans to award a portion of the $4 billion federal Race to the Top Fund early next year — and again in 2011– to states willing to undertake changes in the way schools are run. He hasn’t said how many states he expects to win a chunk of the money, but has indicated that only states that lead the way in education reform will have a chance.
Duncan will evaluate states on six major factors: high-quality assessments and rigorous international standards; data systems that track student achievement; teacher and principal evaluation systems; improvement of lowest-performing schools; support of charter schools; and progress closing the achievement gap.
Delaware Education Secretary Lillian Lowery thinks the state is in a good position to win a grant.
Next fall, Delaware will replace the 12-year-old Delaware Student Testing Program with a computer-adaptive test. Earlier this year, the state agreed to develop common international standards in English and math.Delaware already has a statewide data system that tracks students’ test scores and grades from the time they enter public school until they graduate. The state has 18 charter schools and three more set to open in the fall. In July, Delaware was recognized by the National Center for Education Statistics for being a model in closing the achievement gap between white and black public school students.
But state education leaders recognize that they will need to make some regulatory changes to the teacher evaluation system and the way failing schools are restructured if they want a shot at the federal money.Lowery said she plans to announce changes in the coming weeks.
"If we do get these resources, we could move faster than any other state because we’ve already done the legwork, we’re all on the same page and we’re smaller than other states," said Paul Herdman, president of the Rodel Foundation of Delaware, an educational nonprofit. "We could very easily move to the top tier of states."