What is it about Delaware bills with the number 50 in it? Senate Bill #50 is going to be pulled today according to sources in the know. The bill would have created the Delaware Tech “Community College Infrastructure Fund”. But after opponents of the bill cried foul the legislation is going to die.
Delaware Technical College
Attorney General Opinion On Delaware Pathways Steering Committee Issued Today Is Sloppy, Inconsistent, & Incorrect
Delaware Pathways Steering Committee, FOIA ViolationOn October 7th, the Delaware Pathways Steering Committee held their first meeting with no public notice or an agenda put up 7 days prior to the meeting as required by Delaware state code. In August, Delaware Governor Jack Markell issued an Executive Order creating this public body. The only reason I found out about it was due to tweets from the Rodel Foundation and Mark Brainard of Delaware Tech. I promptly filed a FOIA complaint on October 11th. Seventeen days later, the Delaware Attorney General’s office has already responded to the FOIA complaint. To put this in perspective, I filed a FOIA complaint last March which just had the Attorney General opinion issued last week. BI submitted another FOIA complaint around that same time period and there has been no official opinion released from the Attorney General’s office. But Alison May from the Delaware DOE did respond in record time with their side of the complaint, but she has before. So why was this FOIA complaint rushed?
Below is my original request, the acknowledgment from the Attorney General’s office, the Delaware DOE’s response to the complaint, and the opinion on the FOIA complaint issued today. As well, I am including an email that was still in draft form disputing the facts provided by Alison May in the Delaware DOE’s response. I truly believed I had more time given the turnaround time on FOIA complaints coming out of the AG’s office but this one had a lightning fast response. Given the below findings and other inconsistencies with their opinion, I believe this was a very rushed job they wanted to put to bed fast. But that opens up a whole other can of worms…
Original FOIA Complaint, issued 10/11/16
From: Kevin Ohlandt [mailto:kevino3670@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2016 9:23 AM
To: OpenGovernment (DOJ) <OpenGovernment@state.de.us>
Subject: FOIA Complaint
Good morning,
I am submitting a FOIA complaint in regards to the newly created Pathways Steering Committee. This body came out of Executive Order #61, issued by Governor Markell on Thursday, August 11th, 2016. While there was nothing anywhere indicating they were holding a meeting, tweets appeared on October 7th suggesting the body met as a group. This is a state group, created by an elected official. Yet there was no posting of the meeting or an agenda. Attached are screen shots of the tweets posted by Mark Brainard and the Rodel Foundation of Delaware.
I take this violation very seriously. For a group that is supposed to be all about students, I find it ironic they would operate in secrecy with no ability for the public to attend. This does not translate into anything close to an open government.
Thank you,
Kevin Ohlandt
9 Crosley Court
Dover, DE 19904
On October 12th, the Delaware Attorney General acknowledged receipt of my FOIA Complaint
October 11, 2016 Correspondence Regarding the Pathways to Prosperity Steering Committee
- OpenGovernment (DOJ) <OpenGovernment@state.de.us>
- Oct 12 at 9:33 AM
VIA EMAIL
Mr. Kevin Ohlandt
9 Crosley Ct.
Dover, DE 19904
kevino@yahoo.com
RE: October 11, 2016 Correspondence Regarding the Pathways to Prosperity Steering Committee
Dear Mr. Ohlandt:
This will acknowledge receipt of your correspondence regarding the Pathways to Prosperity Steering Committee (the “Committee”), received on October 11, 2016, alleging certain violations of the open meetings provisions of Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. §§ 10001-10007 (“FOIA”). We treat your correspondence as a petition for determination pursuant to 29 Del. C. § 10005. We are forwarding your correspondence to the Committee’s counsel, asking that they respond to your allegations by October 19, 2016. When we have received the Committee’s response, we will determine whether additional information from either party is required and decide what further action, if any, is appropriate.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Kim Siegel
Kim Siegel
FOIA Coordinator
KS/ks
cc: Danielle Gibbs, Chief Deputy Attorney General (via email)
Michelle E. Whalen, Deputy Attorney General (via email)
Meredith S. Tweedie, Esq. (via email)
The Delaware Department of Education’s Response to the FOIA Complaint, 10/19/16
Issued today was the official opinion from the Delaware Attorney General’s office:
16-IB23 10/28/2016 FOIA Opinion Letter to Mr. Kevin Ohlandt re: FOIA Complaint Concerning the Pathways to Prosperity Steering Committee
This is the draft I was working on to send to the Attorney General’s office that I believed I had more time to formulate:
October 26th, 2016
Good afternoon Ms. Siegel,
In reviewing Alison May from the Dept. of Education’s response to my FOIA complaint from October 11th, in the letter provided from her on October 19th, she states the following:
…and the draft minutes of the October 7th meeting (attached hereto, along with the other documents discussed at the meeting) will be posted online by the end of this week.
In doing an extensive search this afternoon, I have not been able to see anywhere in the State of Delaware, on the Delawarepathways.org website, or any such place on the World Wide Web where Alison May’s assurance of transparency actually took place.
This attempt at a good-faith effort on the Dept. of Education’s response to the complaint seems a bit odd considering this does not exist. And while I know the Governor is not obligated to publicly report on where he speaks publicly, the fact that no documentation exists anywhere in regards to this meeting on the internet aside from I wrote about it on Exceptional Delaware and a few tweets from those associated with this group, I find that to be very suspect. While Ms. May states “this was an oversight on the part of the involved State agencies and organizations and not an intentional effort to circumvent FOIA requirements” in her response, the very minutes she attached to the DOE’s response indicate Luke Rhine from the Department of Education would be in charge of coordinating staffing. And since Alison May from the Dept. of Education was the responding party for the response to the complaint, that leads me to the belief that the Delaware Dept. of Education would have been the State Agency to fulfill FOIA requirements for a public body. Since they did not, I take issue with Ms. May’s response about not coordinating with other state agencies and do not believe that to be a true statement. In regards to the reasoning for not making this meeting public to the citizens of Delaware, a statement of “oversight” bears little meaning in the contextual framework of following state code.
In a prior FOIA complaint of mine against the Delaware Dept. of Education, #15-IB12, Danielle Gibbs, the Chief Deputy Attorney General wrote:
The DOE provided no explanation as to why the notices and agendas were posted less than seven days in advance of the meetings, and it concedes that the postings did not comply with FOIA. The DOE also explained that no action was taken by the AFWG at either meeting. The DOE apologized and said it would “endeavor to determine the agenda of any future AFWG meetings as of the time of any required public notice of them, and include the agenda in any such required notice.
The notices and agendas for the AFWG meetings held in September violated FOIA because they were not posted at least seven days in advance of the meeting as required by 29 Del. C. §10004(e)(2). We find that these errors were technical violations that did not negatively affect substantial public rights.[17] Therefore, we find that no remediation is required.”
Given that the words “substantial public rights” means no action was taken at those meetings, it was during a regulatory process for Regulation 103 where key issues concerning that regulation would have been discussed at the AFWG meetings. So in a finding that “substantial public rights” did not apply in that situation with pending legislative action, I take issue with that. As well, in the attached minutes from the minutes for the Pathways Steering Committee, there is talk of legislative action and a discussion with the Delaware General Assembly.
In FOIA Complaint #13-IB05, issued October 1st, 2013, citizens filed a complaint against the Charter School Reform Working Group in regards to having closed-door meetings not open to the public. In that Attorney General opinion, it states the following:
By letters dated July 31 and August 1, 2012, the Governor extended invitations to a number of individuals to participate in the Working Group as representatives of several public bodies, including the General Assembly, the Department of Education and the State Board of Education, and various private stakeholder groups (the “Invitations”).
While that opinion was an appeal to an earlier complaint, it states the following:
On June 10, 2013, you filed this appeal seeking access to the Working Group’s meeting minutes. We received a response on July 11, 2013. The response indicates that the Working Group did not consider itself to be a “public body” within the meaning of section 10002(h), due primarily to the informal nature of the Working Group.
FOIA, with certain exceptions not relevant here, establishes a public right to inspect all “public records” and requires that all meetings of public bodies be open to the public.4 FOIA’s “open meeting” provisions call for advance notice to the public of all public meetings and require public bodies to prepare and make available to the public agendas for and minutes of their public meetings.5
Section 10002(h) provides substantial guidance as to the types of entities and bodies encompassed within the phrase “body of the State.” That concept, as used in FOIA, includes, among other things, any “group . . . appointed by any . . . public official of the State” that was “impliedly or specifically charged” with making recommendations.9 The Working Group was a “body of the State” within the meaning of section 10002(h).
But the key part from this opinion rests on the following and is key to my own FOIA complaint:
First, this Office consistently has rejected arguments that FOIA’s applicability hinges on adherence to formalities in the creation of a public body, lest FOIA’s goals of openness and government accountability be subverted.14
This was where my draft ended which I fully intended on doing further research on in the next week.
Now here are my issues with the Attorney General’s response to the FOIA complaint. First off, in Alison May’s response from the Delaware DOE, she said it was under the Delaware Dept. of Education’s control to issue the agenda. However, in the link on the FOIA complaint, we see an Agenda created on 10/17/16, ten days after the meeting, and it was issued from Governor Markell’s office, not the Delaware DOE. Furthermore, if this was indeed a public body, why was there no agenda item for public comment? As well, the minutes submitted by Alison May in the DOE’s response to the FOIA complaint are actually different than those that appear on the Googledrive website.
In the original minutes, submitted with Alison May in the Delaware DOE response to my FOIA complaint, it states the following:
Dr. Brainard charged Mr. Rhine to conduct outreach to Steering Committee members to review the draft strategic plan and collect additional input;
Dr. Brainard charged Mr. Rhine to develop a transition report for partnering state agencies to be used as a transitional tool in planning for the next executive administration;
But in the minutes on the Googledrive for the steering committee, it said this:
Mr. Rhine will conduct outreach to Steering Committee members to review the draft strategic plan and collect additional input;Mr. Rhine will develop a transition report for partnering state agencies to be used as a transitional tool in planning for the next executive administration;
While the two items look very similar on the surface, the action of taking out Dr. Brainard from the updated minutes which were created on October 24th by Luke Rhine, which the Googledrive suggests that no action was directed to Luke Rhine, the main Delaware Dept. of Education representative, when in reality it was. This change is substantial. The opinion issued today states that no action was taken at this meeting so the perception that no “substantial public rights” violations occurred by not making a public body meeting public is visibly changed between the two meeting minutes. As well, if the Delaware DOE is the state entity that answered the FOIA complaint and is in charge of posting information about it, why is there absolutely nothing on the Career and Technical Education portion of their website?
We are also expected to believe the minutes and agenda they presented are accurate when they were created at the earliest, six days after the meeting, and at the latest, seventeen days after the meeting:
As well, the response from the Attorney General’s response today shows a link to a website that was not included in the original DOE response to the complaint which means there was further communication between the Attorney General’s office and the parties to which I issued the FOIA complaint against. In all other FOIA complaints I have submitted, I have been a party to those communications every single step of the way but not with this one.
The Deputy Attorney General who wrote this opinion, Danielle Gibbs, handled a FOIA opinion from a complaint I submitted in 2015. She made sure I received all communication from the Delaware DOE on that every single step of the way. But this time I guess I wasn’t so blessed. She actually wrote in the FOIA opinion issued today:
Moreover, as you note in your Petition, certain members of the Committee published photographs of its meeting on social media either, contemporaneously or immediately following the meeting. We find this to be inconsistent with an intentional failure to adhere to FOIA’s open meetings provisions. We see no evidence of an intent – by the Governor or any other Committee member – to circumvent FOIA. Nor do we see an ongoing pattern of FOIA non-compliance which might warrant extreme remedy.
Here is a newsflash for the Attorney General’s office: having a non-profit foundation and a member of the committee post tweets about a non-transparent meeting of a public body issued by a Governor’s Executive Order, does not point either way towards an intentional failure to adhere to FOIA’s open meetings provisions. What it shows is someone tweeting. So to give this extra bearing in a legal opinion about something that was already established to be under the Delaware Dept. of Education’s responsibility is misleading at best.
When you go to this website, there are also extensive plans and reports, involving millions upon millions of dollars of funding. I would think that would be crucial for the public to see.
To see these large amounts of funds being talked about over the next three fiscal years, please go here: DE Pathways Priority 4 Funding Plan 10/6/16. Feast your eyes on this document, created on October 6th, one day prior to the Steering Committee meeting. Furthermore, the two entities planning this funding are not even state agencies, they are 3rd party non-profit companies: United Way of Delaware and the Rodel Foundation.
We have three entities involved with this FOIA complaint: the Delaware Dept. of Education, Governor Markell’s office, and Delaware Technical Community College. How did the college get involved? If you look at the Googledrive, the website is listed as:
This is a Del Tech website. Why is Del Tech storing the minutes for this when it is supposed to be under the authority of the DOE? And why is Markell’s office issuing the agenda (ten days after the fact)? When I do a Google search for the past month using “pathways” “steering committee” “dtcc” and “minutes”, nothing comes up on the search. So how would anyone be able to find these minutes without seeing them in a response to a FOIA complaint? Even if I take out “dtcc” and replace it with “Delaware” nothing comes up. Furthermore, there is nothing in the meeting minutes even discussing minutes or where these minutes were to be stored for public consumption. I believe this to be a very sloppy response from all parties involved and further contend this Pathways Steering Committee is not making a good faith effort with transparency. By allowing this public body to be open to the public, all three parties involved seemed to have communicated extensively with each other after I filed a FOIA complaint. I will also add that additional communication provided by the other parties to the Delaware Attorney General’s office needs to be provided to me by the Delaware Attorney General’s office post haste. The Attorney General opinion states it reviewed the website of the Steering Committee but the only way they would have been able to review that was by getting a link for it. Since there is no viable way to search for this Steering Committee through internet search engines, I contend they were given this website by someone involved with it.
This Pathways Steering Committee, that is making gigantic decisions about students, in secondary and post-secondary setting, with plans for huge amounts of money at state and local levels, is all about substantial public rights. When the General Assembly decided not to move forward with the Pathways Steering Committee as sponsored by Senator David Sokola with Senate Bill 277, Governor Markell took it upon himself to issue an Executive Order to create this committee. When our Governor doesn’t get his way with the General Assembly, it seems he has the authority to bypass that with Executive Orders.
What is the point of a FOIA complaint if the Delaware Department of Justice, under the control of the Delaware Attorney General, has no ability to do anything substantial or with any consequences in regards to a FOIA complaint? Why did they rush through the opinion on this FOIA Complaint without really checking into everything? Why was there (in my view) an intentional attempt to lock me out of communication concerning this FOIA complaint when that has not happened in the past? These are the things I want answers for, as well as Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn himself to issue a statement that this public body has to reconvene their October 7th meeting so the public is well aware of this Steering Committee that is deciding the future of thousands of Delaware students with significant amounts of taxpayer funds.
Updated, 4:53pm, 10/28/16: Since I finished this article, I can now see on the Delaware DOE website where they did a link to this on their website. But it is filled with completely wrong information, as seen below. First off, this is not a “task force”, it is a “steering committee”. Second, it was not passed into law on June 14th, 2016 through Senate Bill 277. It became law through Governor Markell’s Executive Order #61, issued on August 11th, 2016. Senate Bill 277 was released from the Senate Education Committee on June 15th, 2016, but it never came up for a vote with the full Senate and the bill died as of the end of the 148th General Assembly on July 1st, 2016.
The Sham Behind The USAFunds Grant Racket & Governor Markell’s Announcement Today
Governor Markell, USAFundsDelaware Governor Jack Markell announced another initiative tied to grants to prevent students from taking remedial classes in college. This whopping $250,000 grant is coming from USAFunds, a non-profit think tank that promises to “fix” education along with the other million or so companies that promise to do the same. Funny how none of them have, despite all their big talk and reports. What causes me to shudder is some things I found on USAFunds website.
This company is big on community colleges and associate degrees. Which must make them very attractive to a guy like Jack Markell. But they go a step beyond and promote “Students Futures as Investments”. This is the ultimate goal. Not only will companies decide what you want to be when you grow up, they will also earn part of your future earnings! These income-share agreements would have investors fund student’s college education and in return they would get a share of your earnings. We pretty much already have this with student loans. USAFunds linked to a company called American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on their website. AEI has a pdf of the “promises and challenges of Income-Share Agreements“. While this organization likes to use pretty words and all-out statements to support their “cause”, it also talks about human beings as investments. First we were Human Capital, now we are Human Investments. When do we get to be just human? Add in social impact bonds to gamble on special education outcomes in pre-schools, and this is just another step to the privatization of American education.
The funds from this nearly $250,000 grant will go to select schools that participate in the Allied Health and Technology pathway as part of Governor Markell’s big “Pathways to Prosperity” push. Care to guess which college in Delaware specifically has an Allied Health and Technology program? Delaware Tech. And I’m sure any school in Delaware that offers this field as one of their career pathways is already salivating to jump onboard for this free money. Until the grant runs out, and then they make it a part of district costs, thus elevating the huge amount we already pay for education in Delaware.
But for Governor Markell, the lame-duck quacking has ended. All we hear now is the beck and call of corporations and Governor Markell selling our children out. It doesn’t matter if they are conservative, liberal, or just greedy. Markell will sell out Delaware students for any reason. But try to get an audience with the guy about his future plans or actual plans that would improve student outcomes, and we just get more of this:
“We have too many students that have worked hard to meet the requirements of college entry and yet when their coursework begins, they find themselves in need of remediation and additional supports,” said Markell. “I’m thrilled that as a result of our partnership with USA Funds, we can now take another step toward ensuring that our students enter our colleges prepared to earn credits and make progress toward a degree on day one.”
Hey Jack, if our students are still having this problem after eight years of your education reforms, perhaps the problem isn’t the students. Perhaps it is YOU. If you weren’t always trying to make money for companies, maybe our students would have a chance. Add in Common Core, and how it really doesn’t work, and we have another self-made recipe for corporate greed. I was wrong about you running for Congress today Jack, but this just tells me you are banking on a Hillary win so you can get your greedy paws into ALL of American education. You really have no shame…
Delaware PTA slams Governor Markell and Delaware DOE over their latest harebrained scheme!
Delaware PTAI am loving the Delaware PTA this year! After Governor Markell and the Delaware DOE announced their little “we’re scared of opt-out so why not brainwash more parents into thinking their kids won’t have to take remedial classes in college” scheme, many stakeholders were not happy. Including the Delaware PTA who has been very vocal in support of parent opt-out. They are fast-learning that there is no collaboration in Markell’s nation!
Delaware PTA’s Response to Press Release on SBAC and DE Higher Ed Institutions
In a statement made today by Governor Markell, Delaware PTA learned that the four colleges; Wilmington University, University of Delaware, Delaware Technical and Community College and Delaware State University have all agreed that the outcomes of the 11th grade Smarter Balanced Assessments is a good indicator of college readiness. In addition, these institutions have all agreed to accept the assessment in lieu of other placement exams.
At a time when there is so much turbulence in our public education system, we are disheartened to learn that the conversations that proceeded this major conclusion did not include input from any of our major stakeholders. The Delaware Department of Education and the Governor’s office have publicly committed to greater transparency and collaboration with the broader community, yet Delaware PTA, the Delaware State Education Association, state legislators and other community stakeholders were not only excluded from these conversations, but we only learned of this decision a few hours prior to the public announcement.
We believe the lack of a collaborative process has resulted in misguided decisions regarding the efficacy of the Smarter Balanced Assessments, further misleading parents and students.
While Delaware PTA supports the use of assessments with a growth model that will effectively and adequately measure student growth and college and career readiness, we stand by our previous statements, citing the following concerns with the Smarter Balanced Assessments:
1. In its current form, the SBAC does not provide a true growth model;
2. In its current form, the SBAC is overly subjective and not an accurate assessment of student knowledge, skills and abilities;
3. Our educators have not had sufficient time to teach and our students have not had sufficient time to learn;
4. In its current form, the SBAC does not provide parents or teachers with the individual diagnostic data necessary to work together to support student success.
Although we believe that this most recent development is a knee jerk reaction to HB 50 on the Parent Opt Out, Delaware PTA remains fully committed to engaging in collaborative and transparent discussions on developing a state assessment that provides meaningful data for parents, students and teachers.
Decisions made in a vacuum often lead to outcomes that are misaligned and unsuccessful. Delaware parents, students and teachers deserve better.
Dr. Terri L Hodges, State President
Yvonne Johnson, VP of Advocacy
Details About The Delaware Universities & Colleges Using Smarter Balanced Scores
Smarter Balanced AssessmentThis was just released by the Delaware Department of Education:
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Susan Haberstroh
PHONE: 735-4003
April 14, 2015
DELAWARE COLLEGES SAY SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENTS ARE GOOD MEASURE OF COLLEGE READINESS
Students who do well will not have to pass placement tests and can take credit-bearing courses
Dover– Four institutions of higher education in Delaware—the University of Delaware, Delaware Technical Community College, Delaware State University and Wilmington University—all have said students’ scores on the state’s new 11th grade Smarter Assessments are a good measure of college readiness and will be accepted in lieu of a separate placement test, Gov. Jack Markell announced today.
High school juniors started taking the Smarter English language arts (ELA) and Smarter Mathematics assessments Monday and all students will complete them before June 4. The colleges’ decisions mean that students who score 3 or better on the tests’ 4-point scale now will be able to enroll in credit-bearing English and mathematics classes, as long as they meet certain other conditions, and can avoid taking costly remedial classes that not count toward graduations. They also will not need to pass a separate placement exam.
Those placement exams are offered during the summer before students’ first year in college, at a time when they have not been engaged in studying the subjects, meaning they may be more likely to be placed in remedial courses that they do not need.
The criteria colleges used for accepting students are not changing. Admitted students will still have the option to choose to take placement tests to qualify for credit bearing courses.
In 2012, more than half the Delaware public school graduates who enrolled in in-state colleges had to take remedial classes because they were determined to be not ready for college-level work, according to Delaware’s State Report: College Enrollment, Remediation, and Performance (https://www.delawaregoestocollege.org). National data shows that less than 50 percent of students who take remedial classes will complete the class hindering their ability to receive a college degree.
“Today’s announcement marks another important step toward giving Delaware students the best chance to succeed in continuing their education beyond high school,” Governor Markell said. “Delaware’s colleges and universities are not only sending our high school juniors a clear signal that the Smarter Assessments are a valuable tool. They are also showing a commitment to preventing students from taking unnecessary remedial courses, which too often put students off track before they even start their college education.
Smarter Assessments emphasize the importance of a deep understanding of subject matter, critical-thinking, problem-solving, writing and reading more complex materials—all skills necessary for success in college. Those skills are stressed in the Common Core State Standards that Delaware teachers have used in their classrooms in recent years. The standards are not a curriculum but are a set of clear, consistent guidelines for what students should be able to do at each grade level in math and ELA.
Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said the colleges’ decisions “show that they believe the Common Core standards are rigorous and that the Smarter Assessments provide a good measure of college readiness.”
Delaware State University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Alton Thompson agreed. “Delaware State University supports the use of the Smarter Balanced Assessments for placement because we think it’s a great idea to give students incentives to master the Common Core State Standards,” he said. “If they master those standards, as measured by the assessments, we feel confident that they’ll be able to handle college-level work. We have to demonstrate that our students are learning in order to be considered an effective institution and this will help us do that.”
Dr. Mark Brainard, the president of Delaware Technical Community College, said, “Our focus at Delaware Tech has always been to provide access to higher education and we view the Smarter Balanced assessment as an additional means to demonstrate college readiness and facilitate students’ transition to college. We will continue to collaborate with the Department of Education and the school districts on this and other initiatives to prepare students to be successful.”
The Governor announced the agreements with the colleges at the University of Delaware.
“The K-12 school system is working hard to prepare students to enter college and the workforce and the Common Core State Standards help chart a path that students can follow to reach those goals,” University of Delaware President Patrick T. Harker said. “By setting policies around the Smarter Balanced Assessments, we can be sure that students are ready for our entry-level courses. That’s good for the school system. It’s good for institutions like UD. And most of all, it’s good for students and their families, who will know—early and often—where they stand on the path toward college or work.”
Wilmington University also will use Smarter Balanced assessment scores in making placement decisions but is working out details of the new policy. Jim Wilson, Wilmington University’s Vice President of Academic Affairs, said accepting the scores “is in line with our mission of providing opportunities for higher education to students of varying ages.”
In addition, Wesley College is considering how it will treat students’ Smarter Balanced assessment scores. “Wesley College is enthusiastic about exploring options to help our Delaware students transition successfully to college,” Dr. Patricia M. Dwyer, Wesley’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, said.
Delaware is one of 19 states and territories that are members of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which created the assessments. “This is a game changer,” said Tony Alpert, Smarter Balanced Executive Director. “In the past, most state tests had no linkage to higher ed. Smarter Balanced has worked with states and higher education to give meaning to high school exams.”
Alpert noted, “Reducing students’ need for remediation can go a long way toward meeting state and national goals for increased degree attainment, as research has consistently shown that students who enter college without need for remediation are far more likely to complete a degree.”
####
Colleges Policies
University of Delaware
English
Score of 3
· Eligible for credit-level coursework.
Score of 4
· Eligible for credit-level coursework.
· Recommend that students consider dual enrollment in English 110 in their senior year of high school.
Mathematics
Score of 3
· Students who take Algebra II or a higher level mathematics course in their senior year and earn at least a B, may enroll directly in Math 113 (Contemporary Mathematics) or Math 114 (College Mathematics and Statistics).
· Students who take Algebra II or a higher level mathematics course in their senior year and who earn at least a B, may take the University of Delaware’s Placement Examination (ALEKS) to be placed in Math 115 (Precalculus), Math 117 (Precalculus for Scientists and Engineers), or higher.
Score of 4
· No developmental courses are necessary.
· Students place directly into any Math course whose prerequisite is Math 010. That is, entry into Math 113, 114, 115, or 117 is guaranteed.
· Students who take Precalculus or a higher level mathematics course in their senior year, and score a 75% or above on their University of Delaware Placement Examination (ALEKS) may enroll directly in Math 221 (Calculus I) or Math 241 (Analytic Geometry and Calculus A).
· Recommend that students consider dual enrollment in a mathematics course in their senior year.
Delaware State University
English
Score of 3
· Eligible for credit-level coursework.
Score of 4
· Eligible for credit-level coursework.
· Recommend that students consider dual enrollment in English 101 in their senior year.
Mathematics
Score of 3
· Students who take Algebra II or a higher level mathematics course in their senior year and earn at least a B, may enroll directly in MTSC 101 (Survey of Mathematics I) or MTSC 102 (Survey of Mathematics II).
· Students who take Algebra II or a higher level mathematics course in their senior year and who earn at least a B, may take the Delaware State University’s Placement Examination (ACCUPLACER) to be placed in MTSC 121 (College Algebra and Trigonometry), MTSC 131 (Precalculus), or higher.
Score of 4
· No developmental courses are necessary.
· Students who take Precalculus or a higher level mathematics course in their senior year, and who earn at least a B, may take the Delaware State University Placement Examination (ACCUPLACER) to be placed in MTSC 251 (Calculus I) or MTSC 225 (Calculus for Business and Social Sciences).
· Recommend that students consider dual enrollment in a mathematics course in their senior year.
Delaware Technical Community College
English
Score of 3
- In conjunction with a “B” or higher in senior English, student would be eligible for credit-level coursework
Score of 4
- Eligible for credit-level coursework
- Recommended that student consider dual enrollment English in senior year
Mathematics
Score of 3
· No developmental or remedial courses necessary
· Students place into any college level math course with a pre-requisite of Review of Math Fundamentals (MAT012) or Elementary Algebra (MAT015)
· Students who take Algebra II or a higher level math course in their senior year, and earn at least a B, can take DTCC’s Precalculus (MAT185)
· Students can also retake the Smarter Balanced assessment or take DTCC’s Accuplacer to be placed in Precalculus (MAT185) or higher
Score of 4
· No developmental or remedial courses are necessary
· Students place directly into DTCC’s Precalculus (MAT185)
· Students who take Precalculus or a higher level math course in their senior year, and earn at least a B, can take DTCC’s Business Calculus (MAT261) or Calculus I (MAT281)
Breaking News: Delaware Colleges & Universities To Use Smarter Balanced Scores For Acceptance Credentials
Smarter Balanced AssessmentIn about 15 minutes, Governor Markell will be giving a speech indicating Smarter Balanced scores will be used for acceptance credentials at the four major Delaware colleges and universities: University of Delaware, Delaware Technical College, Delaware State University and Wilmington University.
This decision was made without any input from members of the 148th General Assembly. Once again Governor Markell and the Delaware DOE are operating without any stakeholder input whatsoever. The test hasn’t even completed and the scores won’t be out until the summer, so how can this be used as a measuring indicator for students when we don’t even know how effective the test is?
The email regarding this was sent out earlier today:
From: Haberstroh Susan Keene <susan.haberstroh@doe.k12.de.us>
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 11:57 AM
To: Haberstroh, Susan (K12)
Subject: Smarter Balance Assessment and Delaware Higher Education Institutions Announcement
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 11:57 AM
To: Haberstroh, Susan (K12)
Subject: Smarter Balance Assessment and Delaware Higher Education Institutions Announcement
Dear Legislator,
We wanted to provide you with a heads up of an announcement being made today regarding the Smarter Assessments and how four of our institutions of higher education have agreed to use these assessments. A press event is happening at 1:00 today where the Governor will announce that the University of Delaware, Delaware Technical Community College, Delaware State University and Wilmington University all have said students’ scores on the state’s new 11th grade Smarter Assessments are a good measure of college readiness and will be accepted in lieu of a separate placement test.
A press release with the full details will be sent to you later today.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Best,
Susan
Susan Keene Haberstroh, MPA, Ed.D.
Chief, Policy and External Affairs
Delaware Department of Education
Townsend Building
401 Federal Street, Suite 2
Dover, DE 19901
susan.haberstroh@doe.k12.de.us
P: 302-735-4035; F:302.739.4654
The Season Of Myths 