When Betsy DeVos made Delaware resubmit their state plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Delaware Department of Education groaned. It is no secret the Delaware DOE was not a big fan of Bad News Betsy. According to the U.S. DOE, Delaware’s plans were not “ambitious” enough. But one education “leader” agreed with them. Who was the sell-out? Continue reading
On October 15th, the Chairperson of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission gave a TedX presentation on poverty and education. I agree with Dr. Tony Allen on many of the things he said in this speech. But in my opinion, this was a very harsh attack against the Colonial School District. Whether Tony Allen was correct or not about Colonial’s standardized test claims, he used the argument to validate a district’s capabilities on a very flawed system. Standardized tests are not a true indicator of any school’s standing as an educational institution. There are many measurements and indicators of how good or bad a school district is and standardized testing should never be used as a measure of success or failure. While I don’t disagree with Tony that education needs to change, especially in our current environment, using a flawed system is dangerous and further perpetuates the perception of what a failing school is.
