I reached out to Alison May at the Delaware Department of Education about Freire getting their own teacher evaluation system and I was informed this will be announced at the September 17th State Board of Education meeting. Apparently, Freire Charter School of Wilmington jumped the gun a bit in announcing this at their July board meeting.
As May explained to me, if a charter school request this, it is considered a minor modification which means it does not need State Board of Education assent, just Secretary of Education approval. It first goes through the Teacher/Leader Effectiveness Unit (TLEU) at the DOE, and then to the Secretary. The TLEU approved it in July, which was announced as an approval at their board meeting, but Secretary Murphy had not approved it at that point. He has since, and this is what will be announced at the meeting next week.
I am curious though, with all the emphasis the DOE puts on teacher effectiveness, why this would only be considered a minor modification. Something that big SHOULD have State Board approval as well. What do you think? Not that the unelected State Board ever differs from a Secretary suggestion!
The Season Of Myths 