Race to the Top. Delaware Report. Year 3: School Year 2012-2013. [State-Specific Summary Report]
Author: Department of Education (ED)
Date: 2014-03-19
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Academic Standards,Accountability,Achievement Gap,Administrator Effectiveness,Alignment (Education),Budgets,Career Readiness,Charter Schools,College Readiness,Core Curriculum,Data,Educational Assessment,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,Federal Legislation,Federal Aid,Educational Legislation,Federal Programs,Formative Evaluation,Grants,Higher Education,Language Arts,Leadership Effectiveness,Literacy,Low Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Measurement Objectives,Models,Outcomes of Education,Partnerships in Education,Poverty,Principals,Professional Development,Program Effectiveness,Program Implementation,School Districts,School Effectiveness,School Turnaround,State Government,State Standards,STEM Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation,Student Characteristics,National Competency Tests

The State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Delaware's annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 3 report for Phase 1 and 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2012 through September 2013. Delaware made continued progress toward a consolidated, performance-based management approach to its work in Year 3. Seeking to sustain high-impact projects after the grant period, the State initiated a plan to align its other federal funds with Race to the Top projects. The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) specifically began investigating how it could leverage existing resources, such as the Department formula funded program Title II, Part A, to support local educational agencies (LEAs) to sustain their projects after Year 4. In Year 3 Delaware also moved forward with the plan to fully implement the assessments being developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) during school year (SY) 2014-2015. During Year 3, changes to Delaware's progress and performance management system were also instrumental in building a culture of data analysis for all projects at the State, LEA, and classroom level. In Year 3, Delaware saw improvement in the implementation of its statewide professional learning communities (PLCs), which facilitate collaboration among educators and strengthen their ability to use data to inform instruction. DDOE was able to fully implement the Delaware Performance Appraisal System (DPAS II) for all educators in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) in Year 3. DDOE also collaborated with the Harvard Strategic Data Project to analyze statewide human capital data during Year 3. In Year 3, Delaware decided to increase the size of its Teach For America (TFA) cohort to 30 corps members, up from 27 in the 2011 cohort. Seventy-nine percent of the 2011 cohort and 97 percent of the 2012 cohort are still teaching in Delaware schools, and DDOE plans to expand the program to additional LEAs in Year 4. Significant turnover among senior DDOE leadership and staff was a challenge during Year 3, after the Governor appointed a new State Secretary of Education in spring 2012. DDOE has addressed a number of its staffing concerns and has prioritized filling other key vacancies early in Year 4. There were challenges to implementing some aspects of the Delaware Performance Appraisal System (DPAS II) system in Year 3. In Year 4, Delaware plans to introduce minor revisions to the DPAS II system in order to support principals to better evaluate teachers and support them in a manner consistent with their performance in the classroom. The State intends to gather feedback from educators to inform improvements to the Delaware Talent Cooperative, and to leverage data compiled in Year 3 and Year 4 to improve the effectiveness of its teacher preparation programs. Finally, as DDOE leadership seeks to sustain the gains achieved during the past three years and develop strategies to continue investments after the grant period ends, it is working to integrate the practices and processes put in place as a result of Race to the Top projects. More detailed information is contained in this report, including statistical information. A glossary is also included. [For &quot;Race to the Top. Delaware Report. Year 2: School Year 2011-2012. [State-Specific Summary Report,&quot; see ED539234.]