At Del-Tech in Dover last evening, anywhere from 250-300 people showed up for a meeting on the highly controversial Regulation 225. Some of what I saw defied explanation. But what I saw this morning could bring the whole thing to a crashing halt!
Del Tech
Regulation 225 Coming Back On January 31st, Better Get There Early!
Regulation 22511,000 Public Comments. Huge PDF files. It must be Regulation 225, the very controversial regulation dealing with transgender student discrimination. Today, Delaware Secretary of Education Dr. Susan Bunting announced the Development team will reconvene on January 31st to discuss what to do with the regulation going forward.
UPDATE: Friday, Jan. 12, 2018 – The Development Team will meet from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 31 at the Del-One Conference Center on Delaware Technical Community College’s Terry Campus, 100 Campus Drive in Dover. (Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017 – Secretary to reconvene Development Team to review public comment on proposed antidiscrimination regulation)
I tried to read all the public comments. There is not enough time in the day. I can say those “against” the regulation are much higher than those “for”. The PDF for Delaware residents in the “for” category is 17 megabytes (mb). The one for “against” is 136mb. That is a mammoth pdf file! There is another huge file for out-of-state residents. That PDF is 21mb. They are all against and seem to be put in a format where all you had to do was put your name and where you are from and that you are “against” the regulation. Yet another file with unknown residency is over 3mb, and a file described as “other” is only half a megabyte. Most of those were blank emails or asking the Secretary questions about when the vote was.
Last week, I was listening to the Rick Jensen show on WDEL. It was when they were doing their “Weasel of the Year”. Of course it went to this controversy with a huge amount of votes. But during the show, Jensen made it sound like Delaware Governor John Carney had some problems with the wording when it came to parental rights. Which I find interesting since he never mentions the words “opt out” when it comes to standardized testing or the Smarter Balanced Assessment. But I digress.
I am predicting a HUGE crowd for this. Probably why they are using the conference center at Del-Tech. But with the amount of public comments, they might want to consider renting out the Dover Downs Speedway.
Did Governor Carney Actually Heed My Advice?
Family Services Cabinet CouncilFor most of this year, I’ve been beating up Delaware Governor John Carney over the non-public Family Services Cabinet Council. My beef has been that the meetings for this group are behind closed doors. Nobody knows what goes on in these meetings. That changes on Monday, November 13th. Carney is allowing the Council to have a public presentation at Del-Tech’s Wilmington campus at 300 N. Orange St. in downtown Wilmington from 6:00 to 7:30pm.
Governor John Carney will host a discussion with the Family Services Cabinet Council at Delaware Technical Community College in Wilmington.
The agenda will include presentations on data-sharing efforts among state agencies in Wilmington, state service coordination for low-income families, and a planned dual generation center to improve the delivery of job-related services, and services for Wilmington children.
The event is an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to provide feedback and ideas for improving the delivery of state services in Wilmington.
This is the kind of open transparency I’ve been begging for. While it is not a solution to my issues with this Council, it opens the door to what they do. Thank you Governor Carney. I’m not sure if my complaining had anything to do with this, but I do thank you for this opportunity. Was this why the Family Services Cabinet Council met twice last week, on October 30th and November 1st?
Rep. Briggs-King Wants To Get Rid Of Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education
House Bill #261House Bill 261 would remove the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education in legislation introduced today by State Rep. Ruth Briggs-King. In the bill, Briggs-King states over $330,000 was spent on this council in FY 2017. I say get rid of it. We have spent far too much money, time, and resources to what amounts to special interest for Delaware Tech. That’s what this is. The Pathways to Prosperity initiative launched by former Governor Jack Markell also puts tons of money into Del Tech’s pockets. I recommend discontinuing this program as well.
Delaware Senate Passes Blockchain Bill With Unanimous Vote & Things I Heard At Legislative Hall Today
BlockchainMy question is how many of these Senators even know what this bill means. Do they know what they are opening the door to? To be fair, all this bill does is allow Blockchain technology into Delaware corporate law. The word “education” does not even appear in the bill. Blockchain would allow for secure transactions. It also allows for secure dataflow. But who owns that data? If it is meant for one business or one person, does that business or that person own that data?
What happens when a student’s standardized test data, medical information, discipline record, and attendance become a part of this permanent record? What happens if that information is wrong? How do you go about correcting it? Who puts information in this distributed ledger? There are so many unanswered questions about this technology. For businesses and corporations, I get it. But when it comes to the eventual distribution to ALL people, my red flags go way up.
The Senate passed Senate Bill 69 with 20 yes and 1 not voting (Senator Bryant Richardson). I’m not sure why he chose not to vote. There was hardly anyone else during this vote. A handful of lobbyists and that was about it. I did see the primary sponsor, Senator Bryan Townsend, leaving Governor Carney’s office shortly before the Senate convened.
There was a flurry of activity at Legislative Hall today. Pro-lifers and some pro-choicers caused a long line to get in. I guess nobody told them that arriving at 2pm does nothing because the House doesn’t vote on bills until after they go to Caucus. Which they are still in since the House isn’t back in session yet. I went for the SB69 vote and got back home a little while ago. Many of the pro-lifers left.
I did have some chats down here. I heard some rumblings about a few things. One of them being a school district consolidation bill that is floating around. I haven’t seen it yet.
I did have this conversation:
I just wanted to let you know your analysis is always right. I read every article you put on your blog.
Yeah, but does HE read it? (pointing to Governor Carney’s office)
He doesn’t read your stuff. He doesn’t have time for that. But I know his education policy advisor does.
That is always a comforting thought. The most powerful political guy in the state doesn’t read my stuff. How assuring! I know Jack did. Jack read everything that had his name on it, good or bad. This led to a conversation about the time I sang for Jack Markell. When asked if I was going to make a song for John Carney, I answered my singing days are over. But you never know…
State Rep. Earl Jaques’ new tax ’em without a referendum bill was officially introduced today. House Bill 213 was assigned to the House Education Committee.
I heard some people having extreme agita about Senate Bill 50, Senator Harris McDowell’s love fest for Del-Tech. Which would mimic how vocational school districts are funded for minor and major capital projects. It would also give Del-Tech’s board the, you guessed it, ability to raise property taxes without a referendum for these projects. Yes folks, they want us taxpayers to now fund community colleges and their pet projects as well!
State Rep. John Kowalko introduced House Bill #209 which would prevent the abuse of epilogue language in the state budget. Kowalko’s bill would prevent the “waivers” that occur every single year which go against Delaware state code. Think of the Charter School Transportation Slush Fund as just one example of this abuse.
I can’t imagine what State Rep. Jeff Spiegelman was thinking when he introduced House Bill #194 which would eliminate the senior tax credit for anyone born after 1967. I can’t imagine too many Republicans would be on board with this, but they are all Republican sponsors on the bill. That tax credit was something I was looking forward to. Thanks for that Jeff! It still has to pass. Can’t imagine that happening with all this talk about budget deficits and “shared sacrifice”… insert sarcasm here…
I saw some faces from yesteryear as well. Always good to chat with people I didn’t think I would see again. I see on social media that some people I know were there today and I didn’t even see them. Maybe next time.
That’s it for now folks. In the coming days I’m going to have to list ALL the Delaware education legislation floating around. I used to keep track of this stuff daily but it is a lot of work.
Delaware DOE Posts “Cheap Labor” Vendor Request To Market “Pathways to Prosperity”
Pathways To ProsperityPathways to Prosperity is the greatest invention Delaware ever had! If you believe that one, you stand to profit from what amounts to a cheap labor program designed to beef up corporate profit while using students to do so.
The Pathways Steering Committee recently recommended a Request for Proposal to make the Pathways To Prosperity initiative really shine. They want a huge marketing push on this. After all, this committee does include Del Tech, Rodel, and The Delaware Business Roundtable. What corporate CEO doesn’t want cheap labor? The best part is you don’t have to farm jobs out to foreign countries. You can do it right here in your own state. All you need are a bunch of students in high school or college and you can call them “paid internships”. Once students complete these internships, they can earn a secondary diploma or a “certificate”. How awesome! NOT!
To be clear, I am ALL IN for students to continue education. I am ALL IN for disengaged students becoming engaged. What I am NOT all in for is companies taking advantage of school instruction for their own advantage. This RFP from the Delaware Dept. of Education is a fascinating read. RFPs always have some key information about what an initiative is REALLY about. They have to sell it to a prospective vendor.
Delaware Pathways is an education and workforce partnership that creates a career pathways system for all youth.
Notice the word “all”. Does all mean all? Eventually. Wait until Blockchain really gets going in public education…
This effort is guided by the Delaware Pathways Steering Committee, which represents a cross-sector group of policy makers, educators, employers, and community leaders who developed the Delaware Pathways Strategic Plan.
No parents. No students. No parents. No students. Shall I go on?
Registered Apprenticeship is a proven method of training which involves on-the-job work experience coupled with related instruction, typically offered in a classroom setting.
Please show me the statistics showing this “proven method”. I am not against apprenticeships. I am against taking advantage of apprenticeships for cheap labor.
Registered apprentices work for their employer or sponsor and are paid while they learn their respective trade. Registered Apprenticeship, in simple terms, is a program of “learning while earning.”
Are they paid at the same levels regular employees are who would perform the same job function? Yeah, I didn’t think so. And how much goes toward other entities while students are “paid”? Who else gets a cut of this pay? “Learning while earning” is definitely earning. The companies earn a lot toward their bottom line. Disgusting…
Registered Apprenticeships are offered in a variety of occupations. The majority of Registered Apprenticeships are four years in length or 8000 hours of on-the-job training. For each year of training, a minimum of 144 hours of related instruction is required.
8,000 hours is a whole heck of a lot of hours. That is a lot of pay at a reduced scale that could be helping the average Delawarean. Companies don’t want to train regular employees. They LOVE this initiative. And they will use taxpayer dollars to provide that training. It is a win-win for companies. This is exactly WHY they care about education so much. I kind of thought education was about kids getting a well-rounded education in ALL subjects. But this will radically transform that so kids only get instruction in certain subjects on the way to their “career path”. Dumb them down, make sure kids don’t question authority, and then you own them for life. Big Brother is here, owned by Education Inc. Did you really think it was “for the kids”? Please…
Upon completion of the required on-the-job training and related instruction, the apprentice is eligible for Journey papers. A journeyperson is nationally recognized as having a well-rounded ability in all phases of their trade.
Note the words “required” and “nationally recognized”. Say goodbye to the days of applying for a job, getting hired, and then going through an orientation-training class. This is the new hiring process for companies. If you don’t get in on THEIR agenda, you are screwed. And if you are an older person, looking to change careers, you are doubly screwed.
The intersection of Delaware Pathways and Registered Apprenticeship programs is a result of Delaware’s career pathways system, which begins in the public education system (K-12) through Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways offered in charter, comprehensive, and technical school districts.
What a well-timed intersection. Like it wasn’t planned for decades. This is what happens when you let a “non-profit” like the Rodel Foundation dictate education policy. This is what happens when you let corporations in education. They plant the seeds and take over.
These pathways continue through adult education, occupational training programs, as well as Registered Apprenticeship and postsecondary programs that are administered by partnering state agencies, institutions of higher education, and other service providers.
Thus, we have Governor Carney’s “public-private partnerships” in full swing. All hail the Chief!
As a result, Delaware’s career pathways system aligns secondary and postsecondary education and concurrently pairs rigorous academics and workforce education within the context of a specific occupation or occupational cluster.
“Rigorous academics” means the Common Core State Standards. Which was, ironically enough, a Department of Defense initiative designed to change the human mind. It was adopted by the Department of Education to actually change young minds to a digital technology environment. But those standards have to be tested, thus crap like the Smarter Balanced Assessment and PARCC. Make them once a year, get teachers and parents in a tizzy over them, and then institute a competency-based education environment. Then comes the “stealth tests”- same tests as before, but broken up into chunks, to be given at the end of each unit in each class. Impossible to opt out of those. This takes it a step further, tying in the education and corporate worlds into a marriage of game-changing high stakes.
Participants who complete a career pathway attain a secondary school diploma or its equivalent, earn an industry-recognized credential, certificate, or license that holds value in the labor market, and have the opportunity to complete an Associate or Bachelor’s degree program at a Delaware college or university.
Don’t kid yourself. This will be how it is done for ALL students in the future. Call it what you want, but this will be a “digital badge” created specifically for your personal share on the Blockchain ledger. The cradle to grave data tracking job creating machine is here!
The Delaware Pathways Docs… Open Your Eyes Delaware And See The Manipulation…
Pathways To ProsperityYesterday, the Delaware Attorney General’s office opened up Delaware to the world of the Delaware Pathways. Granted, this had to come in the form of a FOIA complaint from yours truly. But feast your eyes on all the big plans rolled around this initiative. An initiative so big Governor Markell had to issue an Executive Order when the General Assembly said no thanks to legislation creating a Steering Committee around the Pathways gig. Given how much is tied into this thing: Common Core, the state assessments, millions upon millions of dollars of state funding, outside businesses, all three of our major colleges, etc., is it any wonder this group has tried to keep things hush as long as they can? All I can say is whenever Rodel gets involved, something goes wonky with transparency. So what is “Work-Based Learning” and “Working To Learn”? The answers lie within. If you oppose this, let your voice be heard now. I do not believe it is a coincidence at all that Delaware will be handing in the first draft of their Every Student Succeeds Act state plan in the next few days. Between this and the ESSA state plan, with all the smoke and mirrors involved with that, NOW is the time to be extra vigilant. Read every single word in these documents. Every. Single. One.
Delaware Competency-Based Education, Part 1: Rodel, DOE & Achieve Inc. Team-Up
Competency-Based EducationPersonalized Learning, as a concept, has been around since the 1960’s. In its original form, it was an effort to personalize learning between a teacher and a student. Students don’t always learn at the same pace. The term has been bastardized by corporate education reformers over the past five years. Their idea is to launch a technology boom in the classroom where investors and ed-tech companies will get tons of money. To do this, they had to use education “think-tanks” and foundations to sway the conversation towards this lucrative gold-mine. No one has been a bigger supporter of personalized learning in Delaware than the Rodel Foundation. They began talking about this new and exciting education reform movement as early as November, 2011. A company called Digital Learning Now! released their 2011 report card on different states ability to transform into a digital learning environment and Delaware scored poorly on their report. According to this Rodel article on the report written by Brett Turner (the link to the report card doesn’t exist anymore), Turner wrote:
…the initial results are not promising, demonstrating that we have significant work ahead of us before the necessary policies are in place to ensure our students benefit from high-quality next generation learning opportunities.
Digital Learning Now! was an initiative of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. Other digital “experts” the company thanks in their 2012 report include the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Data Quality Campaign, iNACOL, SETDA, Chiefs for Change, Getting Smart, and the Innosight Institute. The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded by Jeb Bush in 2008, just as Common Core was in its formation stages. In the Rodel article, Turner talks about how Delaware needs to adapt to this environment so our students can succeed.
Over the next two and a half years, as Race to the Top became more of a nightmare than a promise of better education, Rodel began to take steps to have Delaware become a part of this next big thing. They formed the Rodel Teacher Council to recruit well-intentioned teachers to join their personalized learning dream team. I don’t see these teachers as evil but rather teachers who are easily manipulated and coerced into being connected with the “next big thing”. I see them as unwitting pawns of Rodel.
Rodel didn’t write much about personalized learning too much during this time, but they did release a Personalized Learning 101 flyer in 2013. At the same time, four Delaware districts formed BRINC: Brandywine, Indian River, New Castle County Vo-Tech, and Colonial. Using funds from Race To the Top and a Delaware DOE “innovation grant”, the districts used Schoology and Modern Teacher to usher Delaware into the digital learning age. Rodel’s blog posts about personalized learning didn’t touch on the concept again until February, 2014 when a Rodel employee by the name of Matthew Korobkin began writing posts about digital learning. More followed by other Rodel employees in the coming months. At this time, Dr. Paul Herdman of Rodel was palling around with an ed-tech company called 2Revolutions and went around Delaware talking to groups about the glory of personalized learning.
In the beginning of June in 2014, Rachel Chan with the Rodel Foundation attended a seminar in Washington D.C. on personalized learning sponsored by iNACOL. She wrote about this extensively on the Rodel website.
Later that month, the United States Department of Education released their state reports on special education in America. Delaware received a rating of “needs intervention”, prompting Governor Jack Markell to set aside funding in the state budget for a special education “Strategic Plan”. What no one knew until recently was this plan consisted of hiring Korobkin away from Rodel and into Secretary of Education Mark Murphy’s office to put this plan together.
Later in the summer of 2014, the Delaware Department of Education, with the Rodel Foundation of Delaware, banded together to form a clandestine group of “stakeholders” to look at competency-based education in a personalized learning environment in Delaware. The biggest hurdle in getting this going in Delaware was the barriers in the state code. Their were many players in this non-public group, including members of the Rodel Teacher Council who were also working on a “Personalized Learning Blueprint” at the same time. This group shaped the future of education in Delaware. But they used people to do so, including some of the members of this group.
The timing for this group couldn’t have come at a better time. There were many distractions happening that allowed them to fly under the radar with no one the wiser. Invitations were sent out to select participants from Theresa Bennett at the Delaware DOE. She was an Education Specialist for English/Language Arts in the Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development area of the DOE. She was the person who scheduled all the meetings. An introductory webinar, sponsored by Achieve Inc., was held on August 14th, 2014.
After an explanation of competency-based education and personalized learning from some folks at Achieve Inc., they opened the webinar up for questions. At the 30:07 mark on the video, Appoquinimink Superintendent Matt Burrows explained his district already began the process for personalized learning. He mentioned several hurdles, especially the teachers’ union. Next came Judi Coffield, the former Head of School at Early College High School, a charter school run through Delaware State University. Coffield asked how Carniege units and high school grades would come into play with this. Bennett explained what role the DOE played in this and how she and Rachel Chan from the Rodel Foundation were going to run the group. Bennett went on to explain that select allies were invited to participate in this group. She also talked about a meeting with Achieve Inc. in Washington D.C. in May of 2014 to pave a path forward.
Bennett did a roll call of who was participating in the webinar. Jose Aviles, the director of admissions at the University of Delaware, was not on the call. Bennett explains how Aviles accompanied her to the Achieve Inc. meeting. “Is there a representative from Delaware PTA on the call?” No response. “Is Donna Johnson on the call?” Silence. “Kim Joyce from Del-Tech?” Nothing. “Pat Michle from Developmental Disabilities Council?” Empty air. She added Laurie Rowe and Stanley Spoor with Howard High School of Technology would be joining them. Susan Haberstroh with the Delaware DOE joined later in the Webinar.
Rodel and Markell knew they needed to stage a distraction to further this personalized learning agenda away from prying eyes while at the same time steering the conversation towards their end goals by using the distraction. They knew one of these distractions would automatically happen based on federal mandates from the US DOE, but the other would need careful planning and coördination. The first drove the need for the second.
A few weeks later, Governor Markell and then Secretary of Education Mark Murphy announced the six priority schools in Wilmington. The DOE picked the six “lowest-performing” schools in Wilmington, DE and announced the two school districts involved, Red Clay and Christina, would have to sign a “memorandum of understanding” and submit to the demands of the Delaware DOE. This put the entire city into an educational tailspin. Teachers in the affected schools felt outrage at the Governor and the DOE. Parents didn’t know what this meant. Politicians scrambled to make sense of it all as primaries and general elections faced them while constituents furiously called them. Teachers in Delaware were still reeling from the upcoming Smarter Balanced Assessment and the scores tied into their evaluations. Meanwhile, the secret meetings of the Delaware Department of Education Competency-Based Learning Guiding Coalition began without any public notice as an email went out from Bennett…
Thank you for your interest in the Competency-Based Learning Guiding Coalition. If you were unable to attend the informational webinar, please use this link to access the recording: http://www.achieve.org/DelawareCBLwebinar
The Guiding Coalition will be charged with laying the foundation for competency-based learning in Delaware. This will include creating a working definition of competency-based learning and what it could look like in Delaware, understanding current barriers to implementing CBL in Delaware, and establishing support for CBL initiatives to take root in the state. Once we have a common understanding of CBL, we will surface key ideas and develop recommended strategies for helping CBL take shape in the state.
The time commitment for the Advisory Group of the Guiding Coalition will be attending approximately two or three 2-hour meetings during the coming school year, with 30-60 minutes of pre-work for each meeting. There will also be opportunities to engage further through optional readings, school visits, webinars, and other convenings if your schedule/level of interest allows.
We are excited to share that an expert facilitator will be guiding each of our meetings; we would like to collect information to inform our meeting agendas. Please complete the following survey by September 10th: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DECompetency-BasedLearning.
Please complete a Doodle to help us best schedule the meetings for this group. We hope to begin late September/early October, with meetings held in Dover. Responses to the Doodle poll will help us find the best day/time for the first meeting. Please use this link: http://doodle.com/mts6ncf74v77mnf
Best,
Theresa
Theresa Bennett
Education Associate, ELA
Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development
Delaware Department of Education
401 Federal Street, Suite #2
Dover, DE 19901-3639
Coming up in Part 2: Delaware gets Marzanoed
The Jack Markell Email That Has Delaware Teachers Seething
Governor Markell
Governor Markell sent an email to teachers and administrators thanking them for the latest Smarter Balanced Assessment results. Meanwhile, people don’t care. In the grand tradition of the former and very much lamented Transparent Christina, I hereby present the red-line edition of Jack’s chest-thumping email!
From: Markell, Governor (Governor)
Gee really, you need to write it down twice?
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 2:01:51 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
To: K12 Employees
Subject: Thank you to educators and school administrators
Thank you Governor Markell for forcing students to take this test and for teachers to administer them. God bless the opt out parents!
Dear Educators and School Administrators,
What, no love for the parents?
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer.
You too Jack. Speaking on behalf of teachers, thank you for interrupting our bliss and harmony with this email.
As many of you may have seen, today the state released our annual data showing student performance on the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The improved scores across subjects and grade levels throughout our state serves as yet more evidence that your hard work is producing great results for our children and I wanted to take this opportunity to send a note of thanks.
In other words, over half our kids still aren’t proficient in math based on Smarter Balanced Standards and only 55% of them are proficient in ELA based on those same standards. I see what you’re doing here. Thanking teachers for their “hard work” for bad results. The joke is on you. Anyone who doesn’t know this is a crap test has been living in a cave somewhere.
Our transition to higher standards for what students should know at each grade level has contributed to making the last few years a tremendously challenging time for all of our educators, no matter what subject you teach, and all administrators. At a time when it’s clear that students will rely on their education more than ever to reach their potential, we know they deserve these higher expectations aligned to what colleges and employers will expect of them after graduation.
Newsflash Jack, education has always been needed for students to reach their full potential. This isn’t anything new. Stop making it a crisis. We get it. They don’t “deserve these higher expectations”. That’s like saying “I’m going to hit you in the face. It will hurt. But it will make you stronger.” Colleges hate Common Core, hate your stupid high-stakes tests, and I have yet to hear any employer say “what were your Smarter Balanced scores?” in an interview.
Accepting the higher standards at the state level was the easy part. Our progress is the result of what happens in our classrooms every day.
Yeah, rigor and grit. Lots of academic sweat that still hasn’t produced the results you think we want but you don’t really because as long as kids our doing bad they still need to be fixed. This story is getting as old as your time in office. Like the citizens of the state had much say in accepting these “higher standards”. When you dangle carrots like “Look, we’re getting all this money from the feds during a time when I had to cut teacher raises. Hip Hop Hooray! Come and board my train. It will be fun. Please fasten your seat belts cause you are going to get ridiculed and tested like never before. Don’t worry about the scores or the growth. Progress is progress. As long as my friends make money, that is the true progress!”
The improving proficiency levels released today represent another data point to show that what you are doing is working. Our graduation rates are at record levels, and recently led the country for the biggest growth. More students than ever are being prepared to be fluent in another language, and to pass college-level dual enrollment and Advanced Placement courses before they graduate. And you are making possible the incredible growth in our Pathways to Prosperity program, which just 2 years after it launched with about 30 students, will give more than 5,000 students this fall the chance to take courses that prepare them with college credit and workplace experience in growing industries from IT to health care to culinary arts.
But most of those students will need to go to Del-Tech. Way to spend millions of dollars on programs that benefit your buddies over there. Your asskissery has no limits. More flavor in the favors, that’s all this is. While I don’t mind students learning other languages, the fact that your “World Immersion” programs limit the number of kids who can enroll, especially students with disabilities, will just ultimately create more discrimination and segregation. Why is it whenever I see pictures of these programs I see mostly white kids Jack? But let’s take the time to thank Governor Markell for yet another data point that states the obvious: your ideas DON’T WORK!!! Maybe to the sycophant Delaware DOE, State Board of Education and the suck-ups who don’t realize they are on the table and still think they are at the table.
More than anything, I want to thank you for the daily efforts you put into making your classroom the best possible learning environment, taking time after the school day ends to provide the best extra support, and developing lessons that meet individual needs of each child.
Individual needs measured by a standardized test that does not differentiate between those individual needs and set up to make those with the highest needs look like failures. Teachers are burned out with your absolute hypocrisy and BS Jack. How many more months? I’m sure all the teachers are eternally grateful they have to spend so much of their day outside of their regular hours that get sucked up with professional development. I’m sure they are real happy about that. I’m sure they love the extreme waste of hours it takes students to take this cash in the trash test. Thank you for not providing the true funding our students need to be truly successful and giving all those corporations their big tax breaks. Thank you for giving the middle finger to parents and basically saying to them “Shut the hell up about what you want. This is MY Delaware,” followed by “If you thought those after-school hours are bad now dear educators, wait until your schools become all-day community centers from fetus to the grave!”
I look forward to following your lead and making the most of all of my remaining days in office to provide the support our teachers and students need to make the most of their talents.
I have no doubt you will spend your remaining days finding new ways to further your corporate education reform agendas for your Wall Street, Rodel, and big campaign donor buddies. Don’t forget Jack, you have to put those final nails in the public education coffin by getting those competency-based personalized learning plans into shape. How long before the announcement that Smarter Balanced will replace final exams and tlater will serve as end of unit tests? Can we take a peak at your stock portfolio? God help us all if you do anything education related at a higher level after you (finally) leave office…
Thank you,
“Not really but I have to play this up…suckers!”
Jack A. Markell
Alan Jackson
Governor
Lame-Duck! Quack Quack!
Hey Jack, Why Are You Deleting Tweets?
Governor MarkellDelaware Governor Jack Markell was caught red-handed deleting a tweet! On Friday, at 4:29 pm, Markell put up a tweet from a conference in Washington D.C. sponsored by a group called Select USA. Delaware had a booth there. Two seconds after he posted the tweet, he deleted it. Apparently there is a group called the Sunlight Foundation that monitors when politicians delete tweets. They put it up on their website. When you click on the link in Markell’s tweet, nothing comes up. So even a website link appears to have been deleted as well. But I looked to find out what @DelawareGlobal is. They are actually called Global Delaware. Global Delaware is a part of our state government. They are located in the Carvel building in Wilmington at 820 N. French St.
But just cause Jack retweeted a tweet from Global Delaware, does that mean he was even at this thing?
Yeah, he was there! This conference was so big, even the President went!
So why would a Governor attend a conference with a state organization and delete the tweet about it? What’s the big secret here Jack? Global Delaware promotes financial investment in Delaware from other countries. On their website blog, you can see posts about The Delaware Blockchain Initiative, the Whitehouse Business Council, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Global Cities Initiative, among others. I don’t usually get too involved in economic events with the State of Delaware, but when the Governor closes the blinds on letting the sunshine in, I have to write about it. Especially when it involves education! Wait a minute, how does foreign investment play into Delaware education?
For years, we have been told by the Governor that we have to fix education to fix the economy. Because our economy is so bad and our students aren’t college and career ready. But yet, even Select USA states on their website that the USA is the number one country in the world for foreign investment:
The United States is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world because companies recognize the United States as an innovative and stable market, as well as the world’s largest economy. As global investment continues to evolve, SelectUSA showcases the advantages of the U.S. market to an increasingly diverse range of investors.
So if our education system is soooo bad, and other countries are soooo far ahead of us, why would they bother to invest in the good old USA? Perhaps the farce that our public education system is horrible is just that, a carefully designed illusion driving the corporate education reform agenda. In Delaware, this is highlighted by Markell’s best buddies at the Delaware DOE and the Rodel Foundation.
As a reader, you are probably very confused by now. Still not getting the education connection yet? By bringing all these foreign companies to Delaware, the state will have lots of new jobs. That’s good, right? Not if it deters students from going on to a four-year college. This is the plan: get students to do the “Pathways to Prosperity” thing, get certificates in high school, do apprenticeships, perhaps attend a two-year community college like Del-Tech (which the Governor has been talking about a lot in 2016). That way, when these foreign companies come to Delaware, the students are ready to start their jobs. These jobs that are most likely lower-paying jobs than they could get if they did attend a four-year college. Cause that option, in the future, will be reserved for the more advantaged students. The ones who aren’t low-income or poverty, don’t have disabilities, and so forth.
Now how on earth could a Governor get the public to buy this hook, line, and sinker? By constantly talking about how we need to “fix” education and incessantly chatting about his Pathways to Prosperity. Ironically, Senate Bill 277 which would create a permanent steering committee for Pathways to Prosperity, has been on the Senate agenda for a full vote twice, yesterday and last Thursday, but the Senate has not voted on it. An amendment was added to the bill to include a Delaware parent as well as “one member from a non-profit corporation that advocates on behalf of persons with disabilities“. How much do you want to bet that advocate will have ties to the Rodel Foundation? Any takers? Is the General Assembly less than enthralled with this Markell push?
But he doesn’t just want Delaware students to be a part of this global initiative, he even wants Delawareans to invest in it! There is already pending legislation to lure the citizens of Delaware into taking part in start-up companies in the state. All those tax credit bills that swept through the General Assembly so fast? A boon to companies coming to Delaware! Why do you think so many companies invest in Delaware? Cause of the tax breaks. But when it comes to giving relief to the taxpaying citizens of the state? Forget about it! When it comes to ending the corporate workforce education reform agendas that changed public education without any concern for what it does to students and their future? Forget about it! For Markell, it is all about bottom line, the almighty dollar.
We will know exactly what kind of man Jack Markell is when House Bill 399 comes to his desk. Assuming Sokola allows it on the Senate Education Committee agenda in the next week. If the Governor vetoes the bill, we will know once and for all that he does not care about students, parents, or teachers. He already proved this last summer when he vetoed House Bill 50, the opt out bill, showing he doesn’t care one iota for parental rights. For Markell, it is all about “the best test Delaware ever made”, the Smarter Balanced Assessment. He can’t permit any legislation that would somehow diminish the test. Because the Smarter Balanced Assessment, whether it is given once a year or eventually segmented into smaller chunks through end of unit personalized learning assessments, is the key to everything. All the data and tracking will lead to students being tracked into certain career paths based on their scores on SBAC. Which is the direct link between education and this deleted tweet. Markell posts about these kind of things all the time, so I am not sure why he would delete a tweet based on a conference that nobody in their right mind would write about as much as I am today. But he did. Did he not want people to know he was there? Did he not put it on his travel itinerary?
Of course, all of this plays directly into the “future guide” that was so carefully written… 24 years ago…
Sokola Puts Forth Legislation To Continue The “Dear Hillary” Agenda
"Dear Hillary" Letter, DE State Senator David Sokola, Senate Bill 277I knew there would be some very big education legislation coming up in the final weeks of Delaware’s legislative session. And here we go! Senator David Sokola introduced Senate Bill 277 today which deals with the Pathways to Prosperity program. This legislation would make it a permanent fixture in our schools, would create a permanent steering committee, and create a Pathways to Prosperity leadership team. Once again, parents have been shut out of being on this committee. I guess our voices no longer mean anything, right Dave? God forbid a parent might just have something important to lend. I’ll bet it isn’t even an afterthought when he writes these bills.
I don’t have anything against programs designed to help future graduates obtain jobs should they not pursue a higher education. But to actively promote this option in high school will cause long-term damage to the economic advantages we have as a state and a country. I believe that is what people like Governor Markell and Sokola want. I refer to the “Dear Hillary” letter written by the architect of Common Core, Marc Tucker, to Hillary Clinton shortly after Bill Clinton became President. It is the blueprint for all that has gone down in education since. For those who wonder why I will not vote for Hillary, there is far too much proof she not only backs this agenda but is also a proud supporter. I see the same circle of vultures circling Hillary’s wagon waiting for their big chance. So much legislation, plans, and task forces assume Hillary will be the next President and the timetable on so much of this stuff is written with a President Hillary in mind. Do not mistake this as coincidence. It is far too important for the future well-being of our country and the generations to come. This cradle to grave mindset with the people of America is not a good thing. If the government doesn’t want people to think for themselves, why don’t they just come out and say “We are communist now”. Instead they do the long con thing with crap like this.
When I see legislation like Senate Bill 277 come across my screen, I shudder. It is all falling into place. And when I see Senator Brian Pettyjohn on this as well, I have to wonder. Bi-partisan support for a bill like this scares the crap out of me. It isn’t even about political parties anymore folks, it’s about the agenda. Bills like this make splashy headlines and make us think we are looking out for the kids. The reality is the ultimate smokescreen, the tracking and decreased effort to make our kids the best they can be. Just last week Markell tweeted about how kids don’t really have to go to a four-year college to be successful. He may be right, but chances are much better their lives will be better in the long run if they are about to go a four-year college versus a two-year community college. But schools like Del-Tech are huge supporters of initiatives like these. They are banking on it! Why else would we see legislation honoring their leader months after he got the position show up last week? It is all glorified ass-kissing, done in such a way that nobody will know. The “Delaware Promise” is great for those who profit off it. But for every day people like you and I? Forget about it. So why do we keep electing these knuckleheads who introduce legislation just to make themselves look great?
Sokola is winning brownie points by giving the teachers what they want with the Component V bill, which is part of their evaluations. But don’t forget who wrote the original bill which put the bad stuff into place in the first place. Hello Senate Bill 51! All eyes will be on that and the Wilmington redistricting bills while legislation like this gets passed very quietly and smoothly. Unless someone writes about it first. I oppose this bill for all the reasons I’ve written. I’m not shocked Sokola is introducing this bill today. But I do hope Meredith Chapman kicks his Markell-loving ass next November! And Paul Baumbach is not impressing me at all lately. I know he is a darling with the Newark crew, but this is all politics! The Delaware Dems need to watch out if they want to retain their power in the General Assembly next year. They are due for a monstrous shift in power. I wouldn’t necessarily assume they will all get to keep their window seats next year!
The Delaware Illuminati, Part 1: Jeb Bush Inspires Rodel
Delaware IlluminatiPersonalized Learning, as a concept, has been around since the 1960’s. It is an effort to personalize learning so a student doesn’t always learn at the same pace as other students. The term has been bastardized by corporate education reformers over the past five years. Their idea is to launch a technology boom in the classroom where investors and ed-tech companies will get tons of money. To do this, they had to use education “think-tanks” and foundations to sway the conversation towards this lucrative gold-mine. No one has been a bigger supporter of personalized learning in Delaware than the Rodel Foundation. They began talking about this new and exciting education reform movement as early as November, 2011. A company called Digital Learning Now! released their 2011 report card on different states ability to transform into a digital learning environment and Delaware scored poorly on their report. According to this Rodel article on the report written by Brett Turner (the link to the report card doesn’t exist anymore), Turner wrote:
…the initial results are not promising, demonstrating that we have significant work ahead of us before the necessary policies are in place to ensure our students benefit from high-quality next generation learning opportunities.
Digital Learning Now! was an initiative of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. Other digital “experts” the company thanks in their 2012 report include the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Data Quality Campaign, iNACOL, SETDA, Chiefs for Change, Getting Smart, and the Innosight Institute. The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded by Jeb Bush in 2008, just as Common Core was in its formation stages. In the Rodel article, Turner talks about how Delaware needs to adapt to this environment so our students can succeed.
Over the next two and a half years, as Race to the Top became more of a nightmare than a promise of better education, Rodel began to take steps to have Delaware become a part of this next big thing. They formed the Rodel Teacher Council to recruit well-intentioned teachers to join their personalized learning team. I don’t see these teachers as evil. I see them as unwitting pawns of Rodel. Rodel didn’t write much about personalized learning too much during this time, but they did release a Personalized Learning 101 flyer in 2013. At the same time, four Delaware districts formed BRINC: Brandywine, Indian River, New Castle County Vo-Tech, and Colonial. Using funds from Race To the Top and a Delaware DOE “innovation grant”, the districts used Schoology and Modern Teacher to usher Delaware into the digital learning age. Rodel’s blog posts about personalized learning didn’t touch on the concept again until February, 2014 when a Rodel employee by the name of Matthew Korobkin began writing posts about digital learning. More followed by other Rodel employees in the coming months. At this time, Dr. Paul Herdman of Rodel was palling around with an ed-tech company called 2Revolutions and went around Delaware talking to groups about the glory of personalized learning.
In the beginning of June in 2014, Rachel Chan with the Rodel Foundation attended a seminar in Washington D.C. on personalized learning sponsored by iNACOL. She wrote about this extensively on the Rodel website.
Later that month, the United States Department of Education released their state reports on special education in America. Delaware received a rating of “needs intervention”, prompting Governor Jack Markell to set aside funding in the state budget for a special education “Strategic Plan”. What no one knew until recently was this plan consisted of hiring Korobkin away from Rodel and into Secretary of Education Mark Murphy’s office to put this plan together.
Later in the summer of 2014, the Delaware Department of Education, with the Rodel Foundation of Delaware, banded together to form a clandestine group of “stakeholders” to look at competency-based education in a personalized learning environment in Delaware. The biggest hurdle in getting this going in Delaware was the barriers in the state code. Their were many players in this non-public group, including members of the Rodel Teacher Council who were also working on a “Personalized Learning Blueprint” at the same time. This group shaped the future of education in Delaware. But they used people to do so, including some of the members of this group.
The timing for this group couldn’t have come at a better time. There were many distractions happening that allowed them to fly under the radar with no one the wiser. Invitations were sent out to select participants from Theresa Bennett at the Delaware DOE. She was an Education Specialist for English/Language Arts in the Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development area of the DOE. She was the person who scheduled all the meetings. An introductory webinar, sponsored by Achieve Inc., was held on August 14th, 2014.
After an explanation of competency-based education and personalized learning from some folks at Achieve Inc., they opened the webinar up for questions. At the 30:07 mark on the video, Appoquinimink Superintendent Matt Burrows explained his district already began the process for personalized learning. He mentioned several hurdles, especially the teachers’ union. Next came Judi Coffield, the former Head of School at Early College High School, a charter school run through Delaware State University. Coffield asked how Carniege units and high school grades would come into play with this. Bennett explained what role the DOE played in this and how she and Rachel Chan from the Rodel Foundation were going to run the group. Bennett went on to explain that select allies were invited to participate in this group. She also talked about a meeting with Achieve Inc. in Washington D.C. in May of 2014 to pave a path forward.
Bennett did a roll call of who was participating in the webinar. Jose Aviles, the director of admissions at the University of Delaware, was not on the call. Bennett explains how Aviles accompanied her to the Achieve Inc. meeting. “Is there a representative from Delaware PTA on the call?” No response. “Is Donna Johnson on the call?” Silence. “Kim Joyce from Del-Tech?” Nothing. “Pat Michle from Developmental Disabilities Council?” Empty air. She added Laurie Rowe and Stanley Spoor with Howard High School of Technology would be joining them. Susan Haberstroh with the Delaware DOE joined later in the Webinar.
Rodel and Markell knew they needed to stage a distraction to further this personalized learning agenda away from prying eyes while at the same time steering the conversation towards their end goals by using the distraction. They knew one of these distractions would automatically happen based on federal mandates from the US DOE, but the other would need careful planning and coordination. The first drove the need for the second.
A few weeks later, Governor Markell and then Secretary of Education Mark Murphy announced the six priority schools in Wilmington. The DOE picked the six “lowest-performing” schools in Wilmington, DE and announced the two school districts involved, Red Clay and Christina, would have to sign a “memorandum of understanding” and submit to the demands of the Delaware DOE. This put the entire city into an educational tailspin. Teachers in the affected schools felt outrage at the Governor and the DOE. Parents didn’t know what this meant. Politicians scrambled to make sense of it all as primaries and general elections faced them while constituents furiously called them. Teachers in Delaware were still reeling from the upcoming Smarter Balanced Assessment and the scores tied into their evaluations. Meanwhile, the secret meetings of the Delaware Department of Education Competency-Based Learning Guiding Coalition began without any public notice as an email went out from Bennett…
Thank you for your interest in the Competency-Based Learning Guiding Coalition. If you were unable to attend the informational webinar, please use this link to access the recording: http://www.achieve.org/DelawareCBLwebinar
The Guiding Coalition will be charged with laying the foundation for competency-based learning in Delaware. This will include creating a working definition of competency-based learning and what it could look like in Delaware, understanding current barriers to implementing CBL in Delaware, and establishing support for CBL initiatives to take root in the state. Once we have a common understanding of CBL, we will surface key ideas and develop recommended strategies for helping CBL take shape in the state.
The time commitment for the Advisory Group of the Guiding Coalition will be attending approximately two or three 2-hour meetings during the coming school year, with 30-60 minutes of pre-work for each meeting. There will also be opportunities to engage further through optional readings, school visits, webinars, and other convenings if your schedule/level of interest allows.
We are excited to share that an expert facilitator will be guiding each of our meetings; we would like to collect information to inform our meeting agendas. Please complete the following survey by September 10th: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DECompetency-BasedLearning.
Please complete a Doodle to help us best schedule the meetings for this group. We hope to begin late September/early October, with meetings held in Dover. Responses to the Doodle poll will help us find the best day/time for the first meeting. Please use this link: http://doodle.com/mts6ncf74v77mnf
Best,
Theresa
Theresa Bennett
Education Associate, ELA
Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development
Delaware Department of Education
401 Federal Street, Suite #2
Dover, DE 19901-3639
To be continued…in part 2…coming soon…
To read the prologue to this series, link to The Delaware Illuminati, Prologue
Who Wants To Go To Rodel’s Student Success 2025 Gig Wearing “Refuse The Test” Shirts & Give Out Flyers?
Rodel, Vision CoalitionAnyone game? It’s on Wednesday, September 16th at Del Tech in Dover, from 10-11:15am. It’s free! You have to sign up and register at http://bit.ly/studentsuccess2025launch and your ticket will be emailed to you.
Yes, because 2012, 2015 and the original 2025 didn’t work out, we now have Student Success 2025, because ED2025 wasn’t as catchy! I’m serious, who wants to go and hand out REFUSE THE TEST DELAWARE flyers?
The Season Of Myths 