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 Charter’s low enrollment leads to state review
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 want deal signed before November
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 …
A look at Brandywine’s city vs. suburban test scores
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 …
School boards lay out worries, support for Learning Collaborative
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 …
Schools start Tuesday, and ‘kids can be kids’ again
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 …
Here’s why state wants advice on school funding
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 …
Learning Collab districts to meet; test scores for city schools
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 …
Ed. officials field community’s Learning Collaborative questions
A Wilmington Learning Collaborative official said Tuesday that the boards of the three participating districts may not approve the operating agreement until September. Jon Sheehan, chief of policy and senior advisor to Gov. John Carney, made the comment while describing how the state expects the project to unfold as it tries to create a new agency to oversee city students …
State education test scores dismal, described as ‘crisis’
Delaware’s 2022 test scores were released Tuesday, and they aren’t pretty. Just 30% of Delaware students in grades three to eight met grade level math requirements, while 42% earned a proficient score in English language arts. These scores come from the state-administered Smarter Balanced Assessment, an end-of-the-year summative test that measures the abilities of students in grades three through eight …