Delaware students performed worse on math tests in the past three years than any other state.

Report: Delaware math, reading scores drop tops state lists

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Delaware test scores have fallen to the bottom of the heap since 2019, with some worse than any other state, according to the Nation’s Report Card, which was released Monday.  From 2019 to 2022, the average scores for Delaware fourth-graders on the math assessment dropped by 14 points, the steepest of any state.  “In Delaware specifically, our scores were decimated,” …

Delaware's teacher union wants the state to follow Maryland's lead and start teachers' salary at $60,000.

State teachers’ union asks for base pay hike

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Delaware’s teacher union proposed a new salary schedule Monday that includes a base pay of $60,000. Of that base pay, $42,000 would come from the state — $12,000 more than it’s currently paying.  Under the plan, teacher salaries would be raised over three years, costing the state $134.5 million in total. By the final year, total teacher salaries would cost …

Milford’s Ashley Lockwood has been named Delaware's 2023 teacher of year.

Milford’s Ashley Lockwood named 2023 teacher of year

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Ashley Lockwood, a fifth-grade teacher at Lulu Ross Elementary in Milford School District, has been named the 2023 Delaware Teacher of the Year.   “Teaching children has been one of the greatest blessings and gifts that God has ever given me, and for that, I will be forever grateful,” Lockwood said during the award ceremony Tuesday night. “Thank you to my …

Great Oaks has a current enrollment of 236 students, 37% smaller than its authorized enrollment. (Great Oaks Charter School - Wilmington Facebook)

Great Oaks Charter’s low enrollment leads to state review

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Concerns about enrollment numbers at Great Oaks Charter School in Wilmington have triggered  a formal review by the Delaware Department of Education. The school serves eighth through twelfth grade and has a student body of more than 80% Black students. The review will be conducted by the Charter School Accountability Committee to determine if Great Oaks has violated terms of …

Learning Collab officials are hoping to get all districts to vote on their involvement in their October board meetings.

Learning Collab officials want deal signed before November

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Wilmington Learning Collaborative officials are asking its member districts for a definitive vote by the end of October.  “We have asked for a vote in October because we really need to get the board appointed, get the executive director hired, and that’s going to take some time,” said Jon Sheehan, chief of policy and senior advisor to the governor, during …

Brandywine board member Kristin Pidgeon said that many city children are bused to suburban schools and the Learning Collab should consider providing programs and services to those students. (Courtesy of Harlan Elementary School Facebook group).

A look at Brandywine’s city vs. suburban test scores

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

A look at the test scores of Brandywine School District’s elementary schools shows why the state is focusing only on Wilmington children in its proposal for a program to raise student achievement in the city. Brandywine school board member Kristin Pidgeon this week questioned why Brandywine’s other eight elementaries – all in suburban schools – are not included in the …

Wilmington Learning Collaborative

School boards lay out worries, support for Learning Collaborative

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

    A joint meeting Tuesday of the Brandywine, Christina and Red Clay school districts about the Wilmington Learning Collaborative featured a lively discussion, but still no vote. The 21 board members were joined by Gov. John Carney, Education Secretary Mark Holodick and other key education officials. While no one outright opposed the learning collaborative, some expressed concern about the …

Students are returning to the classroom this week and next, and things are looking a lot differently than they did at the start of last year.

Schools start Tuesday, and ‘kids can be kids’ again

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Caesar Rodney School District students will be the first to return to school this fall, heading back on Tuesday, Aug. 23. Others such as Colonial start next week, but the majority head back after Labor Day. For the first time since March 2020, the spectre of COVID-19 will be shoved into the coat closet and largely left there. “Kids can …

Delaware has contracted a consultant to evaluate their complex and historic funding formula for school funding.

Here’s why state wants advice on school funding

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

The Delaware Department of Education announced last week it has hired a Virginia consultant to study the state’s public education funding system. As today’s wisecracker would say: Good luck with that. How the money trickles down to the classroom is complex, and it follows a funding system established in the 1940s. The state’s population then was 286,000, compared to today’s …

wilmingtoncollabedit

Learning Collab districts to meet; test scores for city schools

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

Brandywine, Red Clay and Christina school districts will meet Aug. 30 with the Department of Education and the governor’s office to discuss joining the Wilmington Learning Collaborative. The announcement came at Brandywine’s school board meeting Monday, where the district once again delayed a vote on whether to join.  Board President John Skrobot III said that the date is tentative and …