UPDATE: DOE's Chief Turnaround Officer, Keith Sanders (of Miller-McCoy testing scandal fame) has resigned from his position in Dover effective July 15, 2014. I suppose it's just another hop, skip, and jump through Delaware onto greater fame and controversy!
While we are still awaiting confirmation, the rumor on the street is that DOE is planning to enact the next level of intervention in a Wilmington school.
At least one PZ schools is rumored to have failed to make AYP for in two years for two years. Here's the letter:
You can read the state's fancy description here: DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENTS
Here's a PZ reminder without going too deep into the code/regs/law:
Partnership Zone was established by former DE Sec of Education, Lillian Lowery, in conjunction with Gov. Jack Markell. The zone was written into Race to the Top as an ancillary item, intended to show the state's available resources and muscle when it came to affecting "change" in persistently low achieving schools.
The DE Dept of Education helped author language in a bill that codified the Partnership Zone. Our legislators passed this bill into law following the RTTT "win." Funding for PZ schools was a part of the consolidated grant. To access the allocated funding, local education agencies (districts and charter leadership) had to offer a plan (MOU) utilizing one of four (flawed) intervention models, Transformation, Turnaround, Charter, or Closure to DOE. To be relieved of PZ status, the school had to make AYP in two years for two years.
The regs also prescribed the next steps should a school fail to succeed in two years for two years under the chosen intervention model. In level one of PZ, the LEA could use one of the four intervention models. Most LEAs chose Transformation (not all) as it appeared to be the least disruptive for students. In the second level of PZ, Transformation is entirely off the table. These schools must choose either Turnaround, Charter, or Closure.
In Christina, the board was permitted to enact a model that merged both Transformation and Turnaround. Not sure if DOE ruled CSD schools were officially one or the other - regardless I do believe there is audio of the state's former PZ authority defining the CSD model as a "hybrid."
Thus, if a CSD school enters stage 2 of PZ, it's possible that both Turnaround and Transformation will be off the table, leaving the LEA with the choice of Chartering the school or closing it and sending its students to higher scoring schools elsewhere.
Hey, DOE, what's it gonna be?
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