Delaware School District & Charter School Special Education Ratings Are The Biggest Joke In The State!

How were the Delaware school districts and charter schools rated this year for special education?  Every single one is in here and the joke isn’t even funny anymore!

It’s that time of year again. I publish these findings every June.  This is the Delaware Department of Education’s annual ratings for special education for Delaware school districts and charter schools.  These are not true measures of special education.  28 out of the 46 possible points are based on the state assessments- the Smarter Balanced Assessment and the SAT.  Since NONE of our legislators seem to want to get rid of SBAC, our districts with the highest concentrations of special needs student continue to get these very false labels in Delaware.

I predicted most of these labels before I even dug into the letters each district or charter received. The letters were based on the 2016 school year.  That is very common.  These compliance ratings always lag two years behind.  And, yawn, as always, the charter schools that everyone complains about cherry-picking do the best.  For example, Charter School of Wilmington could only get a possible 13 points because they are considered non-applicable based on the indicators.  These are also socio-economic in nature.  Students with disabilities who are also economically challenged do worse on standardized tests.  This isn’t rocket science.

The Delaware Department of Education doesn’t get their state rating until the Office of Special Education Programs at the United State DOE releases their state findings, which should be any day now.

The indicators the Delaware DOE measured school districts and charters for students with disabilities in Kindergarten to 12^th grade and Early Childhood Education can be seen below and after that is each district or charter’s rating which had three potential labels- Meets Requirements, Needs Assistance, or Needs Intervention.

Results Indicators

#1 Graduation Rate- 1 point

#2 Drop-out Rate- 1 point

#3b. Participation Rate in State Assessment ELA Grades 3-8 & 11- 7 points

#3b. Participation Rate Math 3-8 & 11- 7 points

#3c. Proficiency in State Assessment ELA 3-8 & 11- 7 points

#3c. Proficiency in State Assessment Math 3-8 & 11- 7 points

#4a. Significant Discrepancy in the Rate of Long-Term Suspensions and Expulsions of Students With Disabilities- 1 point

#5a. Percent of Children Aged 6-21 Served Inside the Class 80% of the Day- 1 point

#5b. Percent of Children Aged 6-21 Served Inside the Class less than 40% of the day- 1 point

#5c. Percent of Children Aged 6-21 Served in Separate Schools, Residential Facilities and Homebound/Hospital Placements- 1 point

#7a. Early Childhood Social/Emotional Skills- 1 point

• Early Childhood Percent Increase Rate of Growth- 1 point
• Early Childhood Percent Within Age Expectation- 1 point

#7b. Early Childhood Acquisition Use and Use of Knowledge and Skills- 1 point,

• Early Childhood Percent Increase Rate of Growth- 1 point
• Early Childhood Percent Within Age Expectation- 1 point

#7c. Early Childhood Use of Appropriate Behaviors- 1 point

• Early Childhood Percent Increase Rate of Growth- 1 point
• Early Childhood Percent Within Age Expectation- 1 point

Compliance Indicators

#4b. Significant Discrepancy in the Rate of Long-Term Suspensions and Expulsions of Students with Disabilities by Race/Ethnicity and Noncompliant Policies, Procedures, and Practices- 1 point

#9. Disproportionate Representation All Disabilities- 1 point

#10. Disproportionate Representation Specific Disabilities- 1 point

#11. Initial Evaluations Conducted Within Timeline- 1 point

#12. Early Childhood Transition from Part C to Part B- 1 point

#13. Secondary Transition- 1 point

 

Delaware School Districts

• Appoquinimink: Needs Intervention
• Brandywine: Needs Intervention
• Caesar Rodney: Needs Intervention
• Cape Henlopen: Needs Assistance
• Capital: Needs Intervention
• Christina: Needs Intervention
• Colonial: Needs Intervention
• Delmar: Needs Intervention
• Indian River: Needs Intervention
• Lake Forest: Needs Assistance
• Laurel: Needs Intervention
• Milford: Needs Intervention
• New Castle Co. Vo-Tech: Meets Requirements
• Polytech: Needs Assistance
• Red Clay: Needs Intervention
• Seaford: Needs Assistance
• Smyrna: Needs Intervention
• Sussex Tech: Meets Requirements
• Woodbridge: Needs Intervention

 

Delaware Charter Schools

• Academia Antonia Alonso: Meets Requirements
• Academy of Dover: Meets Requirements
• Campus Community: Needs Intervention
• Charter School of New Castle: Needs Intervention
• Charter School of Wilmington: Meets Requirements
• Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security: Needs Assistance
• Delaware Design-Lab High School: Needs Assistance
• Delaware Military Academy: Needs Assistance
• Early College High School: Meets Requirements
• Eastside: Needs Assistance
• First State Montessori Academy: Meets Requirements
• Freire: Needs Intervention
• Gateway: Needs Intervention
• Great Oaks: Needs Assistance
• Kuumba Academy: Needs Assistance
• Las Americas ASPIRA: Needs Assistance
• MOT Charter School: Needs Intervention
• Newark Charter School: Meets Requirements
• Odyssey: Needs Assistance
• Positive Outcomes: Needs Assistance
• Providence Creek: Needs Assistance
• Sussex Academy: Meets Requirements
• Thomas Edison: Needs Assistance

 

• Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families: Needs Intervention

 

I say this every single year, but the measurements used on this are bogus in most areas.  Having over 60% of the ratings based on standardized tests when the state KNOWS students with disabilities do horrible on these tests is a true disservice to our special education students and is not a true representation of our schools.  I can think of a hundred different indicators they could use but the Delaware DOE does what they are told by their master, the US DOE.  When I first started blogging four years ago, the indicators were more representative of valid areas in special education.  Most of these though are not true problem areas with a couple of exceptions.  There is always room for improvement in special education but without that kind of data showing up statewide, nobody can truly capture it.  These results?  All they do is give the Delaware DOE a reason to hunt and peck those who do “bad” on these for things that truly do not measure special education.

To see your school district or charter school, go here: Delaware DOE ratings for Districts & Charters