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The Season Of Myths 
Reblogged this on Kilroy's delaware.
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It’s a start. However, Arne Duncan is not the problem. Arne Duncan is a pawn; a messenger. The problem is the gatekeepers that let him in. Let us not forget that we got into this mess when Markell was angling for Arne’s job. It should never have gotten to the point where we are appealing to the national Secretary of Education for help against an agenda he is peddling. The State bought into all of the federal money and programs because we were afraid to lose how much of the education budget? How much was coming in from the Feds anyway? Local control is need for local issues. When decisions need to be made regarding education, experienced educators in conjunction with local leaders need to be the ones making the decisions: not a good basketball buddy of the President, business groups, a gym teacher with 3 years teaching experience, or a investment banker. The wrong end of the system is constantly and unfairly targeted when the problems begin at the top with those who have no clue how to develop a curriculum let alone run a classroom.
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Friends,
Our efforts to improve the schools, in Milford in 2000, was done with approximately $40K and funding was coordinated by DOE with DESA,
DSBA, DASA, the Chiefs, and corporate contributions I solicited.
In 2002, Milford schools was recognized for the Lt. Gov.’s (Carney) Models of Excellence award for the approach of Plan-Do-Study-Act, otherwise known as the continuous improvement cycle.
$40K versus $130M??? and to what end? Some say this is a (organizational) learning dis-ability. Increased revenues will not solve this lack of sustainability and only a cultural shift will.
Imaging, much of the Race to the Top $$$, other than $15M has been allocated and with many education leaders already departed Delaware.
Please, legislators, require DDOE to use a very small portion to establish a department for learning, similar to what we began in 2000.
By establishing a Chief Learning Officer for Education, we could ensure that a continuous improvement cycle could continue, a cultural shift could take hold, and education leaders could become familiar with the Core Values and Concepts of Quality Education. Benefits would abound by designing, building, and sustaining, strategic alliances with: the American Society of Quality, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and much, much more. Delaware has not connected with these critical education resources and further become dis-engaged as our ability to recruit and retain (job) talent – of all kinds – remains a growing concern.
Has the level of pain over Wilmington Schools become severe enough to embrace honesty and rationality?
As, Rep. Kowalko and Matthews cite in their open letter to SecED Duncan, incorporate science, like the cognitive brain research taking place at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Recently, it’s been a special pleasure to share some highlights of this leading edge research with leaders at the IEP/Autism/Blind task forces.
Unfortunately, no leadership in this regard has been expressed, which suggest that, for a sustainable solution, we need to think at a higher level.
In my opinion and from my volunteer work as the advisor to the Delaware state quality program, I see no other option to get Delaware Education back on track.
Be reminded of George Santayana’s words: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
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