The Delaware Dept. of Education put out a request for proposal for their Social Studies and Science state assessments. For Social Studies, the bidding ended on 9/9 and for Science, 9/23. This is the second time the Delaware DOE put out requests for these two tests and some of the same companies bid again. I went into detail about some of those companies last December. The last time both the state assessments were included in one big lump. This time, they separated them. I had a lot to say about the Social Studies request for proposal last month and how this could lead to embedded stealth testing in a constant online competency-based personalized learning environment.
Delaware System of Student Assessment in Social Studies
Next Generation Science Assessment for Delaware Learners
The new bidders for these assessments are Measured Progress Inc. and WestEd. Measured Progress is just more of the same according to Save Maine Schools. They were the Smarter Balanced vendor in three states last year, but they couldn’t even handle the data capacity and had to shut down testing. WestEd, though, is no stranger to Delaware. This is a company that thinks online digital learning games with Curious George are just great for preschool. They also have an extensive list of clients with some very familiar names. Ironically, the Delaware DOE hired facilitators from WestEd for their Every Student Succeeds Act Community Conversations, along with Research In Action. They even went into a partnership recently with NewSchools Venture Fund to expand small business data technology companies in K-12 classrooms. How ironic that they received grant money from the Small Business Administration to fund ed tech start-ups while they are bidding for contracts that would measure the effectiveness of ed tech instruction with state assessments. No conflict of interest there! Strategic Measurement still has the same website as last year. Both AIR and Pearson are still the lead players in the high-stakes testing arena. None of these bidders signal Delaware ending the high-stakes testing arena any time soon.
The Season Of Myths 
I am a bit confused. Aren’t the science standards changing to reflect the Next Gen Standards. During this transition, are the tests aligned to current or new standards?
In social studies, the DE standards have not yet been aligned to common core rigor.
I am wondering if we are paying for something that we as a state will pay for again when standards change. Also, how do these tests align to Advanced Placement in later grades?
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Delaware Social Studies teachers could probably come up with a fine assessment, no? Are they even involved in the process?
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