Exclusive: Odyssey Parent’s Email To Board About Unethical Board Practices & Conflicts Of Interest

No sooner do I post an article about Odyssey than an email comes in from an Odyssey parent who is fed up with their Board!  While this email has been circulating among Odyssey parents on social media today, this is the first time it has been open to the public like this.  The parent gave me full permission to post this and considers it a public document!

Interesting Press Release From DE DOE Today, Link To Priority Schools? @KilroysDelaware @ed_in_de @RCEAPrez @ecpaige @Apl_Jax @danny_o @nannyfat @TNJ_malbright #netde #Delaware #edchat #eduDE

Alison May at the DOE has been busy with all the press releases coming out of their lately.  Today’s press release “celebrates” 197 educators in Delaware who have helped students increase their standardized test scores and decreased the proficiency gap.  Two public school district high schools and three charter schools each received a $10,000 grant as a thank you from the state.  Didn’t one of these charters just get a huge amount from their “performance fund”?  Read on to see the extra incentive these teachers will get if they go to a “high needs” school, aka, priority school, aka future charter school.

Almost 200 top educators invited to join third cohort of Delaware Talent Co-Op

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

Contact Alison May (302) 735-4000

ALMOST 200 TOP EDUCATORS INVITED TO JOIN COHORT THREE OF THE DELAWARE TALENT COOPERATIVE

Nearly 200 educators from across the state have been recognized as part of the the third cohort of the state’s Delaware Talent Cooperative, with each being recognized with up to $20,000 in financial incentives to continue working in some of the state’s highest-need schools.  The third cohort also includes nine educators who took positions in one of the 18 Delaware Talent Cooperative schools after demonstrating success in their previous schools and classrooms.

 “Students in many of our educators’ classrooms and buildings are making significant academic gains, often overcoming difficult challenges in and out of school,” Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said. “It is vitally important that we recognize our outstanding teachers, specialists and school leaders who have committed to work toward college and career readiness with our students who need their talents the most.”

All participating educators have the opportunity to participate in cross-state, collaborative professional learning sessions, and select participating schools have the opportunity to secure school-based grants.  The department announced last week that five Delaware Talent Cooperative schools were awarded $10,000 each for various projects developed at the school level.  School-based grants, professional learning communities, and cross-principal collaboration on recruitment and retention practices are just a few of the features of the community-of-practice that the initiative has become.

Each educator has the opportunity to earn a “retention incentive” between $2,500 and $10,000 over the next 18 months as they continue working in their high-needs schools, or up to $20,000 in “attraction incentives” to accept a position in one of the state’s highest need schools. There are 18 participating schools statewide in the initiative, with five Delaware school districts represented.  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited EastSide Charter School in April to hear from educators about the positive impact of the Delaware Talent Cooperative in supporting educators and recognizing schools like ECS as outstanding places for educators to start or grow their careers and practice.

In addition to the financial incentives and becoming a part of the schools’ community, selected educators take on various teacher-leadership roles including mentoring colleagues, serving on program evaluation focus groups and having their exemplary classroom instruction videotaped and cataloged for sharing with colleagues.  The department plans to visits dozens of participating educators’ classrooms in 2015 to capture the great work they are doing.

The Delaware Talent Cooperative (www.detalentcoop.org) recognizes some of Delaware’s highest-performing educators in its highest-need schools. The effort focuses on ensuring educators will continue serving or move to work in some of the state’s highest-need schools for at least two years.  It addresses some of the state’s  — and country’s — long-standing challenges in public education around educator equity, resources for the highest-need schools, and meaningful educator retention.

Some early data suggests that the Co-Op is on-track to achieving part of its mission.  The retention rate of “highly-effective” English Language Arts and math teachers in the initiative is 93 percent over the past two years, exceeding state averages for all other schools, including non-high-need schools.  This promising data point illustrates how important it is to have the three ingredients that drive retention of educators who are irreplaceable: powerful school leadership, inspiring school culture, and meaningful compensation opportunities, said Angeline Rivello, who oversees the initiative for the Delaware Department of Education. 
 
The 197 teachers and specialists qualified for the third cohort in part because they earned an “exceeds” rating on the student improvement component of the state’s educator evaluation system (DPAS-II).  They also demonstrated consistent practice via their classrooms observations.  Thus, their strength in planning and preparation, building a positive classroom environment, cohesive and rigorous instruction and overall professionalism (Components I-IV) combined with their students’ results made them eligible for the program. The nine school leaders were selected based upon building-wide student achievement results and, in some cases, other measures of student success and performance.  These are the baseline criteria for acceptance into the Delaware Talent Cooperative, which also includes an intensive vetting process for educators seeking to transfer into participating schools.

The 15 schools represented among the 197 educators recognized this round are: Howard High School of Technology, Dover High School, Positive Outcomes Charter School, Prestige Academy, Laurel Middle School, Edison Charter School, Reach Academy, EastSide Charter School, Kuumba Academy, West Seaford Elementary, Blades Elementary, Towne Point Elementary, South Dover Elementary, East Dover Elementary and Harlan Elementary.

The Delaware Department of Education also has awarded five school-based grants of $10,000 each to Howard High School of Technology, Dover High School, Prestige Academy, EastSide Charter School and Kuumba Academy.  Each school has developed a plan for how to utilize the funding to drive improved educator pre-service partnerships, recruitment, professional learning communities, and differentiated retention.  For high schools such as Howard and Dover, this represents more catalytic funding to augment the resources each has received as a result of being a participant in the state’s Partnership Zone in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Several Delaware educators now have been part of multiple cohorts.  For the handful that participated in all three cohorts, each was eligible for up to $30,000.

Alison May
alison.may@doe.k12.de.us
(302) 735-4000

 

Inclusion or Restricted Environment for Special Education: Which States Favor Certain Settings #netde #eduDE

In an article yesterday on Disability Scoop, results were announced from research done by Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. They surveyed states to find out where special education students were generally placed, in a restricted environment or inclusion, placed in a regular classroom setting.

Overall, the analysis found that Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wisconsin most consistently favored inclusion.

In contrast, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. generally leaned toward restrictive settings.

When funding formulas for each state were examined, Kurth found that a handful of states appeared to incentivize placing students in more restrictive environments, but said that these monetary policies did not appear to have a “clear impact” on educational placement decisions.

The last sentence definitely jumped out at me.  Especially for good old Delaware!  More information can be found here: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/09/08/inclusion-rates-sped-state/19652/