Governor Markell To Teachers: “Giving You Another Year Before Consequences Kick In”

Last night at the Bright Spots Common Ground For The Common Core meeting, Delaware Governor Jack Markell gave a speech and told teachers he was “giving you another year before consequences kick in,” in regards to the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  The Delaware State Board of Education, in their March meeting, sent a request to the U.S. Department of Education to ask for an additional year aside from this year before teachers were held accountable for the assessment.  Does this mean the U.S. DOE denied the request from Delaware? Or was Markell talking about the additional year aside from this year?

Governor Markell also advised the audience he is always willing to hear concerns from educators about the assessment and indicated several have met with him at his office.  He clarified it was based on those concerns that he requested the delay in accountability for teachers.  This Governor has been rather snippy of late since the parent opt-out movement kicked in…

The keynote speaker for the meeting was Steve Leinward from the American Institutes for Research (AIR).  AIR is the DOE contracted vendor for the Smarter Balanced Assessment.