"Delaware Will Become a Laboratory for Reform for the Nation"

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

From Delaware's Race to the Top Grant Application:

Delaware’s newly-defined regulatory framework for school turnaround gives the State the authority to intervene directly in failing schools and requires schools to demonstrate results by achieving AYP within two years. It also requires both strict adherence to the school intervention models defined in the Race to the Top guidance, and negotiation of collective bargaining agreement carve outs to secure the staffing and operational flexibility necessary for successful implementation. In cases where negotiations fail, the State has the authority to break a stalemate. This collaborative, yet robust approach will be complemented with central supports from the State and will allow the DDOE to affect change at the local level.

Beyond these strengths, Delaware brings another advantage to its reform – its size. With just 126,800 students, 19 districts, and 18 charters, Delaware is small enough to make true statewide reform achievable. In Delaware, reform will be managed face-to-face, not via a remote bureaucracy, allowing the State to act quickly in response to challenges and opportunities. By proving that reform is possible with the same complex conditions that other states face (e.g. diverse stakeholders, limited funding, complex governance), and doing it quickly, Delaware will become a laboratory for reform for the nation.

My Take:
1) Delaware's students will be expected to make AYP in 2 years. Statistically speaking, this requirement fails to take into consideration the divserse learning styles and curve of each child.

2) The Reform will be managed face-to-face? Between who? School Boards, nor Delaware's School Board Association, were not brought into a collaborative relationship to assist in creation of the State's Application. We have been repeatedly marginalized. In scanning the Application, there are multiple instances of the reiteration of stakeholders and school boards are repeatedly left off that list. DOE did not reach out to school boards until the deadline was imminent and they needed a signature, at which time we were told that DOE's reforms would happen anyway and if we wanted any money, it was sign or be left behind. Hands Tied. Period.

3) Delaware will become a laboratory for Reform for the Nation: This is perhaps the most frightening statement I've read today. Delaware's children are not lab rats. I want our kids to succeed. But, I believe acheivement is better accomplished by small class sizes and the re-construction of Delaware's Education Funding Mechanisms. We need more classrooms and more teachers. We need to eliminate waivers, compel payment by the state for their share of full-day Kindergarten, and stick to what we know works. Teachers will tell you that they are most effective when they have smaller classes and can work with each and every child at their level in a consistent manner. We need to take the adults (Politician, and Businessmen) out of the equation and state focusing on the children!