There is absolutely no reason for Governor Markell to take over these schools. It would be a rather foolish move on his part based on this study!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2014
CONTACT
Wendy Lapham, Public Information Officer, Christina School District, 302-552-2610
Two “Priority” Schools Receive High Scores on Comprehensive Reviews Conducted by Delaware Department of Education and University of Delaware
Wilmington, DE – Two Comprehensive Success Reviews conducted in November by the Delaware Department of Education, the University of Delaware, and the Delaware Academy of School Leadership gave an overall high rating to two “Priority’ Schools in Christina: Bancroft Elementary School and Stubbs Elementary School. The reports highlight the many areas of strength being demonstrated at both schools.
The evaluations were conducted using a rubric score on a scale of 1-4, with 1 being the lowest rating and 4 being the highest rating.
Out of a total of 37 categories, Bancroft scored the highest score of “4” in 15 categories, and earned a score of “3” in 17 categories. The school received a rating of “2” in only 4 categories, and received only one rating of “1,” in the area of parent and community involvement in the review of the School Success Plan and parent awareness of the School Success Plan. In the two other areas of parent communication and involvement measured, Bancroft scored a “3” in both categories.
Out of a total of 37 categories, Stubbs scored the highest rating of “4” in 16 categories, and earned a score of “3” in 14 categories. Stubbs received a rating of “2” in only five categories, and received no scores of“1.” Two categories were not applicable.
Both schools received the highest rating of “4” in the categories of Policies, Procedures, and Structures, School Leadership Decisions, Time Management, Curriculum and Instruction, Strategies for Students Who Are at Risk or Do Not Master Standards, Access to Instructional Materials, and Scientifically Researched-Based Instructional Strategies.
Christina’s third “Priority” school, Bayard Middle School, underwent a Comprehensive Success Review (CSR) in April, 2014. That review indicated some of the areas that needed improvement, but since the time of the review, a new school leader was named and the school has undergone other changes based in part on the results of the report.
The results of the CSRs for Bancroft and Stubbs are significant because they suggest that the two schools are achieving in multiple areas, and that they have demonstrated significant progress since the last reviews were conducted in 2012. This is in direct contrast to the state’s announcement on September 4 that the schools are among the lowest-performing in the state. Bancroft, Stubbs, and Bayard Middle School must develop comprehensive plans to be approved by the Delaware Department of Education by January 7, or the District could face possible closure of the three “Priority” schools, and/or takeover by outside operators.
“We are excited about the very positive results of the Comprehensive Success Reviews, but not necessarily surprised by them,” said Christina Superintendent Dr. Freeman Williams. “For the past two years, we have been working towards the exact results that are now evident in the reviews. We will continue to focus on those areas that need improvement, while maintaining our effort in the overwhelming number of areas where those results show we are already demonstrating success.”
# # #
Wendy Lapham
Manager of Communications/Public Information Officer
Christina School District
600 N. Lombard Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
(302) 552-2610
The Season Of Myths 
The CSRs for both schools pretty clearly indicated, to an impartial reviewing team, that the leaders and the teachers in those two Priority Schools (shouldn’t every school be a public priority? but that’s a discussion for another time) are doing just exactly what they need to be doing. So one is left questioning why Markell and his kids at DOE want to replace the leadership and half the teachers? Doesn’t make an iota of sense. At one of the Priority meetings I asked Penny Schwinn, one of the new kids at DOE, if she’d visited any of the three Christina Schools. “Oh, no, that would bias my view.” Somebody explain that to me…..Markell will be visiting Stubbs School tomorrow morning, for the first time. Watch out for bias to develop….
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Wait… because of SB. 51 … sponsored by DAVE SOKOLA, our university smokes crack because it is not yet approved on Common Core. This evaluation is meaningless because of DAVE SOKOLA’S legislation which passed the Senate with no discussion and had one House member actually storm off in protest without voting because he was silenced by the chair for bringing up opposition….. LEST THE TRUTH EVER COME OUT TO THE MASS MEDIA AND GENERAL PUBLIC.
Written somewhere in Amendment 1 to SB 51 is the statement best described by this metaphor: since the University smokes crack… it matters nothing what they say or do…. They are not approved to rate anything involving Common Core because the DOE has not yet tested and approved them to rate anything involving Common Core…
A mess…. to be sure.
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And yet they received well over a million dollars in Race To The Top funding….
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Didn’t realize until seeing it in print in your reply above, but they have been jerking us all along.. Race To The Top Funding……as in: how fast can we get the funding… to the top….
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