This was a draft created by the Delaware Department of Education Teacher Leader Effectiveness Unit on their Human Capital 2017 project. I originally wrote about this project here. In reviewing more of the huge FOIA material I received over two months ago, I stumbled across a Power Point presentation in draft form that gives A LOT of information about the whole purpose of the DOE.
While converting the document on a Scribd file, some of the material overlaps, and I was unable to fix it, but make sure you read every single word in this document. It’s amazing how much long-term planning goes into these DOE programs, including legislation in the General Assembly.
After watching the Director of this unit, Christopher Ruszkowski, at the February 18th Delaware House Education Committee meeting, it is amazing how much power he has at the Delaware DOE. The website Education Pioneers.org has a pretty thorough review on Ruszkowski.
When someone told Christopher that he should be a teacher in the inner-city, something clicked. After undergrad, he joined Teach For America and taught 7th and 8th grade social studies at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Miami-Dade County for two years. There, Christopher saw himself in his students, the majority of whom were first-generation Americans. Under his guidance, Christopher’s students achieved significant gains and demonstrated 80% content mastery.”
“As a Fellow, Christopher was placed with San Francisco Unified School District where he worked to ensure that hundreds of district administrators were well prepared for the upcoming school year and their work to educate over 55,000 San Francisco students. Christopher helped develop, facilitate, and plan the district’s annual Administrator Leadership Institute and worked cross-functionally across all departments to ensure strong professional development for all district administrators.”
“My project connected me with leaders across the district, and I witnessed different management styles, political maneuvering, and cross-district collaboration,” he says. “I saw how leadership and management could cut through the noise or raise the decibel level. It was invaluable for me to see those organizational dynamics in another context before moving to a state-level role.”
“Post-Fellowship and eager to be a part of Race to the Top, President Obama’s signature education initiative, Christopher headed to the Delaware Department of Education. In his first year there, he launched a dozen educator effectiveness initiatives and was quickly promoted to Chief Officer of the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Unit. Christopher has grown his team from three people to 25. He now oversees the unit’s $30 million budget and all state-led educator effectiveness efforts, as well as analyzes how districts’ individual human capital plans are driving student achievement.”
Will Ruszkowski survive the post-Markell purge that will most likely occur at the Delaware DOE? But more importantly, will the Human Capital 2017 project ever see its fruition? I hope not…
The Season Of Myths 