WLC Sets Metrics Of Success; Hires Reading, Trauma Groups

The WLC contracted a couple of groups and established its measurables for next school year Tuesday night.

A state agency aiming to rapidly improve education in the city of Wilmington has finally organized what measurables it will use to gauge success.

The Wilmington Learning Collaborative, created in November 2022, oversees nine city elementary schools in the Brandywine, Christina and Red Clay Consolidated school districts.

To reverse longstanding challenges to academic and social success, the collaborative seeks to involve community members like parents, students, educators and local organizations.

Tuesday night, its governing council focused on four main categories the WLC will watch from August 2024 to June 2025: academic achievement, student engagement, retention and recruitment, and wellness and wellbeing.

Each has specific numbers and metrics the learning collaborative hopes to meet, but there was no discussion about how exactly they would meet these goals.

Even so, it is a giant step for the collaborative. Its planning year period is coming to a close and the collaborative is planning to introduce behavioral and reading programs expected to help meet it goals.

Academic achievement

75% of kindergarten through grade eight students attending WLC schools will achieve typical growth by June 30, 2025 on end-of-year district-mandated benchmark assessments (NWEA or iReady). NWEA is an assessment tool used to measure achievement and growth in math, reading and language use. iReady is a web-based adaptive diagnostic assessment and instruction program that assesses students’ reading skills to the sub-domain level, prescribing differentiated Common Core instruction so learners of all abilities can achieve success.
100% of WLC schools serving students in grades three through eight will achieve five percentage point increases in English Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency by June 30, 2025, on the Delaware Smarter Balanced Assessment, the state achievement test.

Proficiency scores in Delaware have plummeted since the turn of the century, and those struggles are worse for students of low income, minority students, students with disabilities and English language learners.

Nearly 20 schools in the state, some in the collaborative, have proficiency scores in the single digits, meaning more than 90% of students are not on grade-level for various skills.

Student engagement

100% of WLC schools will have a minimum of 85% of students with on-track attendance.
Six of nine schools will receive Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) recognition by Aug. 31, 2025.
100% of the nine schools will reduce the number of disciplinary referrals by 20% by June 30, 2025, through the consistent implementation of PBIS strategies.

Those strategies include acknowledging and reinforcing positive behaviors, teaching and modeling expected behaviors and providing targeted interventions for at-risk students.

Absenteeism is another metric that has garnered more importance. Statewide, nearly 21%, or one in five students, are chronically absent from school.

That means, per the federal government, a student misses 15 or more school days in an academic year.

Retention and recruitment

Each WLC school will report a one-year teacher retention rate of 85% by Aug. 31, 2025.
90% of WLC kindergarten through grade eight classrooms will be led by certified teachers by Aug. 31, 2025.

The Delaware State Report Card does not keep data on teacher retention rates, but educational experts have said that the teacher shortage is a national issue, and teachers in city schools do not stay in the school or district as long as they do in affluent areas.

The state – and its universities – have pushed new methods like grow-your-own and teacher residency programs to create opportunities for the state’s prospective teachers to get college credits and experience, creating a pathway for them into the classroom.

Wellness and belonging

These numbers will be tracked through survey numbers, and while the WLC has not set specific percentage goals, the higher the better:

% of students who feel that they are supported by the adults at their school.
% of students who feel that they somewhat belong at their school.
% of teachers who feel that their school has been supportive to their growth as a teacher.
% of staff who feel their school has been supportive of their professional growth.
% of families who feel that administrators create a school environment that helps children learn.
% of families who feel that children enjoy going to their child’s school.

Because the collaborative is hoping to dismantle a lot of historical blockades to a good education for a city student – like transportation, hunger and trauma – these metrics have been highlighted a bunch since the group’s inception.

WLC leaders and educators at the nine schools have said the social and emotional wellbeing for everyone – students, staff and families – is critical to create a positive school climate where students can effectively learn without external distractions or barriers.

Laura Burgos, the executive director of the WLC’s governing council, presented the measurables.

One of those programs that could help meet a couple of the measurables, is a new behavioral health support system that will be piloted in two WLC schools this fall.

It’s “The Chill Project,” which was developed in Pittsburgh schools.

The program claims to “use mindfulness-based exercises to equip students, teachers and parents with a common language and universal skills to identify, discuss and react positively to stress.”

Some of the key resources students will have access to are:

One-to-one counseling.
Support groups.
Medication management.
School-based outpatient services.
School-wide preventive services.
Professional development opportunities.
A social-emotional curriculum and classroom consultations.
Exercises and consultations specifically designed for student athletes.

That’s one program that will likely address some of the issues in the “wellness and belonging” and “student engagement” categories.

It will cost the WLC about $130,000 a year for three years of licensing. A term renewal fee costs $129,080.

Councilwoman Alethea Smith-Tucker, a board member in Christina, said she’s heard teachers being told not to give disciplinary referrals.

She said she wanted to make sure any programs that focus on transformative and preventive behaviors aren’t designed to simply result in fewer disciplinary actions, but actually help change behaviors.

Councilman Lincoln Hohler, superintendent of Brandywine, said those poor behaviors should be fixed with the implementation of WLC programming.

In essence, if the programs yield their intended outcomes, teachers won’t be told or won’t feel like they have to withhold giving out referrals.

Dorrell Green, a councilman and Red Clay superintendent, is looking forward to a focus on childhood trauma.

He said a lot of students come into school with behavioral issues because of the trauma they deal with at home.

The collaborative hired Reading Assist, a nonprofit focused on improving literacy rates, which the WLC hopes will help raise proficiency scores.

Councilwoman Shanika Dickerson said students in WLC schools have already shown interest in and some have committed to Reading Assist programs, which are essentially intervention, high-dosage tutoring lessons focused on improving literacy skills.

The contract states that the “WLC engages Reading Assist to deliver summer reading intervention tutoring services to students at Pulaski, Stubbs, Bancroft and Bayard Elementary Schools.”

The contract is for $440,000 a year and provides 44 Reading Assist tutors to work in the summer.

Another contract for Children & Families First was approved, although it is unclear what the price tag is.

The nonprofit provides the supports and services children and their families need.

One of its areas of expertise is providing systems of care for families who have dealt with intergenerational trauma.

According to the contract, the Children & Families First will deliver site-based community councils and related school engagement support at the nine collab schools.

The WLC’s next meeting is Tuesday, June 18 at 6 p.m. Watch it here.

WLC sets metrics of success; hires reading, trauma groups

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