P-20 Council Meeting Notes 7-29-10 P-20 Council Meeting Notes Buena Vista Conference Center Thursday, July 29, 2010 Dr. Teri Quinn Gray welcomed Council members. She provided an overview of the strategic planning process to this date. She explained that the Council began the conversation in October and that the work of the P-20 Council is focused on transitions. The question we have been addressing in the strategic planning process is, ―How do we, as a Council, facilitate those transitions?‖ In March, work sessions were conducted to take a look at the areas addressed in the Governor’s Education Blueprint and Delaware’s Race to the Top application: 1. Standards & Assessments 2. Turning Around Low Achieving Schools 3. Great Teachers and Leaders 4. Data Systems Council members need to continue this process keeping in mind the question, ―How do we facilitate and execute on those areas aligned with the Governor’s Education Blueprint?‖ The Council came back together in April and came to the consensus that transitions are key in the P-20 pipeline and this is where P-20 can make a unique contribution to the work. It was also decided that the Council should focus on research. Members posed the question, ―How can the Council membership work together to accelerate what we know is best in terms of initiatives such as increasing graduation rates, improving college success, ensuring students a good start in Pre-K, and preparing for success in what you do in college, after college and post graduate. At the conclusion of the April meeting, it was agreed that we needed to bring back the subcommittees to discuss where they are and how they align with and help the Council leverage our current initiatives. From that reporting, the Council will build a strategic plan and pool resources and talent around the table. The plan could be ―off the chart‖ great with this type of collaboration around the table. The Council must communicate effectively, have clear accountability and be about execution and results. Dr. Quinn Gray then noted that there were new members at the table. Introductions were made around the table. Dr. Nancy Brickhouse was introduced as the new University of Delaware representative, and Dr. Alton Thompson was welcomed as the replacement for Dr. Harry Williams as the Delaware State University representative. Dr. Lowery provided the group with an overview of the status of Delaware’s Race to the Top (RTTT) work. She stated that they are running as fast as they can and added that it is a good run. This grant provides many possibilities for the state of Delaware. This funding will enable us to do more quickly. Dr. Lowery told the Council members that they are important ambassadors and that it is important that they understand the work underway. She explained that 90 days after award on March 9 LEAs (districts and charter schools) had to write individual scopes of work. On April 9th state leaders met with representatives from US DOE. The state followed up with a statewide workshop and three additional county level workshops. In the application, there are 12 areas in our 1 P-20 Council Meeting Notes 7-29-10 scope of work. It is required that all work LEAs include in their plans must comport with that scope of work. LEAs will choose from 12 statewide scope of work the four or five, which will be their focus recognizing that they have to touch on all 12. The districts have worked hard to develop plans. In April, the Department of Education met with districts and charter schools regarding the scopes of work. These meetings included representation from local boards of education, local union affiliates, teachers, school leaders and superintendents. They pulled it together and all teams participated in every part of the development of district scopes of work. We are committed to being transparent. The districts did what we asked and we gave feedback. We talked them through the good and bad, with both written and oral feedback. We ran their data for them so that they had their data to help them know where to spend their time. Districts were given a June 18 deadline. However, we were getting the same kinds of success plans we were getting year after year. We were advised to fully fund the best plans, fund the mediocre plans only where they were good, and not to fund the ones that did not meet expectations, but we did not believe that would work in DE. Those preparing the plans did not really know how to do what we were asking them to do. If we took that stance, we believe that people would walk away from the table just when we need them at the table. The business community got behind us and offered support so that the school personnel could visit places to see some of these strategies in action such as the Harlem Children’s Zone, Hillsboro, FL with teacher leader work, etc. We decided that the best approach for Delaware would be to implement a year of change management, so we submitted a request to US DOE. If we want this to be sustainable, people need to know and understand what RTTT is. Districts needed time to educate their school board and their community. We found that only about 30% had a 50,000 ft view. This change management year allows for a year of education at the local level. There are tough options associated with RTTT and people have to understand the sense of urgency and why those options are viable options. Districts really have 6 months to the Dec/Jan period. They are being asked to provide a revised plan no later than January. In additions, we are taking the business community up on their offer for support and USDOE said they want to practice what they preach by providing technical assistance as we work through this. If the revised plan is not more creative and address outcomes in a meaningful way they won’t get funded in years 2, 3 and 4. We have given them the help, and they have to step up to the plate. If we do not take this approach, we are using a formulaic funding process and that will not get us where we need to be. It would not have been fair to do this right off the start, but this is fair. Dr. Lowery discussed the capacity at DOE to accomplish this work. She shared information about the newly formed Project Management Office. Jim Palmer was hired to head the Project Management Accountability Unit, a young man from Miami Dade with a specialty in Human Capitol was hired to lead the Teacher and Leader Unit and conversations are under way to hire a high school principal from within the state of Delaware to run the turn-around office. The Department is currently in the process of interviewing people who will be working in those offices. We are building capacity within the Department and have received help from Broad Foundation. They have supplied an Intern for whom we pay ½ the salary and they pay ½. I need good people in here doing this work. We have also hired Lisa Bishop as assistant to the Secretary. She is from Maryland and has a great deal of experience 2 P-20 Council Meeting Notes 7-29-10 in a variety of areas. We will also have two data analysts from the Center for Education reform at Harvard University to work with us with faculty advisor from Harvard. Again, they will pay ½ of the costs and we will pay ½. The USDOE believes this to be a great idea. They approved the plan last week and are in the process of releasing the Race to the Top funds. The plans that were submitted were not totally strong and we wanted to push for a little bit more. All the districts are still at the table. It is the Delaware way to give people time to collaborate and think about things. We feel very good about the process. Dr. Lowery went on to state that we have to do a better job of communicating the complexity that is RTTT. To that end, Delaware has hired an outside consultant with experience in education public relations to help us craft and shape our message so that WE are telling our story and so that rumor and innuendo are not getting in the way of the facts. The Governor has made great progress on the issue of due process protections for new teachers. Delaware has a good evaluation system that needs to have a little teeth added to it. If a teacher does not achieve student growth in two of the first three years of teaching, the teacher cannot be granted tenure. In addition, a teacher cannot be label ―effective‖ if they do not demonstrate student growth. ―Student Growth‖ is in the process of being defined with the help of DSEA and other key stakeholders. Subcommittee Progress Reports Early Childhood Subcommittee progress report was provided by Dr. Dan Rich, University of Delaware professor of public policy and Chair of the Delaware Early Childhood Council (ECC) He sent greetings from Mr. Paul Harrell who was unable to attend. This Council serves as the P-20 subcommittee on early childhood educationl. The Early Childhood Council has been reconfigured with a revised mandate since the last legislative session in ways that respond to federal guidelines and to the need for a stronger policy focus in the years ahead.