In 2006, Vision 2015 recommended that “our standards [become] as challenging as those that the highest-performing countries expect their students to meet,” and four years later Delaware adopted the Common Core State Standards along with 44 other states and D.C. The promise of these standards is their ability to set a common, higher bar for [...]
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Singapore: A North Star in the Great Teacher Debate
As Delaware policymakers and teachers struggle with the complexities of introducing student growth measures into the state’s revised teacher evaluation system, DPAS II, I hope we don’t lose sight of the larger goal. As a state, we are on a journey to create a great teaching profession so that every child in Delaware has an [...]
An Anniversary, a Conference, and a Lot of Work Ahead
This is a guest blog post by Marvin N. “Skip” Schoenhals, chairman of Vision 2015 and WSFS Bank in Wilmington, DE, for which he served as president and CEO from 1990 to 2007. He is a member of the Delaware Business Leaders Hall of Fame. Five years ago, Vision 2015 set out to transform the [...]
Guest Blog by President Harker, University of Delaware
This is a guest blog by Patrick Harker, President of the University of Delaware. On October 18, the University of Delaware will be hosting a Vision 2015 sponsored conference on Delaware’s education reform efforts, “Delaware’s Race to Deliver: Getting it Done…and Done Right. This is first in a blog series about the upcoming conference. Stay [...]
Partnership Zone Update
The Partnership Zone timeline is a tight one (the first submission deadline is Nov. 17), so by necessity a lot must happen each week. Here are the latest updates as of Oct. 7 (for previous updates and analysis/information on the PZ, click here). Capital’s school board has decided upon a “transformation” model for Dover HS [...]
P-20 Charts Path Forward; Signs onto RTTT-ELC
Yesterday, the Delaware P-20 Council met for the first time since the membership was expanded and authority was clarified by legislation, focusing on the need to enact cross-agency data sharing regulations that meet our Race to the Top promises. With support from USED’s longitudinal data experts, they now will be drafting regulations for data governance, [...]
Partnership Zone Schools Update
28 days have passed since the six round two Partnership Zone schools were announced (for more on the Partnership Zone, see earlier posts), and districts are moving full speed ahead, each taking a different approach to the planning and community engagement process. Red Clay chose “transformation” for its schools (Lewis, Marbrook, and Stanton) during its [...]
Our Partnership Zone Schools: Let’s Prove What’s Possible
Earlier this month, six new Partnership Zone schools were announced. The question is will we at the state and local levels make the tough calls needed to ensure that these schools fundamentally change course? This is our collective opportunity to do something powerful in these communities—to prove that the kids in these neighborhoods can excel. [...]
