Delaware
Del. tackles educational challenges, 50 schools identified as low-performing
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Fifty schools in Delaware are grappling with the weight of low performance, a figure that underscores the pressing challenges within the state’s education system.
Students in these schools are falling behind. For some schools, it’s the majority of the student body that’s struggling. For others, poor performance is more limited to specific subgroups, such as English language learners, students with disabilities or certain racial and ethnic groups.
The state identifies low-performing schools after an accountability calculation conducted annually, which evaluates student performance and categorizes schools into Comprehensive School Improvement or Targeted School Improvement.
“The difference between them are really whether the whole school, like all students are underperforming – CSI – or whether it is a specific sub-population – TSI,” said Laura Saperstein, the education associate for accountability in the Office of Assessment and Accountability. “In our [Every Student Succeeds Act] plan, we are required to have certain subpopulations like race and ethnicity broken out as well as special populations like students with disability, English language learners.”
“We rank all of the Title 1 schools from the highest to lowest and the bottom 5% are what set our threshold. Now, we do have schools that are non-Title 1s. So if any of them fall below the threshold, they might also be identified,” she added.
Title 1 schools are schools that have 40% or more low-income students, or schools with an low-income percentage that equals or is higher than the district’s low-income percentage, according to the Delaware Department of Education’s website.
The CSI and TSI initiatives were implemented as part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, which aimed to hold states accountable for public schools serving students from kindergarten to 12th grade. Since then, the Department of Education has utilized a complex identification process through the Delaware School Success Framework, tailored to different school models, including elementary, middle and high school models.
“Within the school success framework, there are four to five indicators that they are being measured on,” Saperstein said. “Within each indicator, there are several measures. So, for example, the academic achievement indicator, the school quality and student success, the graduation indicator, and the growth in early language development, for the kids that are English language learners.”
Delaware
Controversial meme resurfaces as Delaware mourns loss of murdered state trooper
Darby said she started receiving harassing messages and threats after Shupe’s viral post. She said she reposted the meme again this year on Law Enforcement Appreciation Day in an act of defiance to show the mostly white people calling her racist and misogynistic slurs that she would not be cowed.
“They’re trying to intimidate me, they’re trying to bully me and I’m not scared of no white folks,” Darby said. “It’s not the 1800s anymore. I’m reposting it because what y’all going to do? It’s facts, there is nothing you can do to me.”
Darby is currently running for the House District 1 seat, currently held by Democratic Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha. She says she’s not concerned that the controversy will affect her campaign.
Members of the state House and Senate thanked law enforcement officers for their service during Tuesday’s vote on the resolution, with some highlighting the positive strides police departments have made in shedding old ideas and moving with the times.
“Understanding that a change was needed,” House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris said. “Focusing more on the person, understanding trauma, community policing. All of these things have made a difference.”
Delaware State Police Col. William Crotty said they’ve accomplished those goals by having conversations and demonstrating their values.
“Over the last several years together, we have chosen professionalism, we’ve chosen unified standards and we’ve elevated best practices to better serve our community,” he said. “We’ve accomplished these things by listening, learning, building trust and transparency with all the members of our community.”
State lawmakers also honored Snook’s service and life during Tuesday’s vote. Senate Secretary Ryan Dunphy, a member of Snook’s family, offered a stirring remembrance of the fallen officer.
“Going through fatherhood at the same time as him was so much fun and that’s just one of the things I’m going to really miss,” he said. “But my son will always know love and be connected to his uncle Ty, who is watching over him as his guardian angel. And we will always, always be there for his little girl.”
The state Senate passed the concurrent resolution unanimously. The House approved the measure through a voice vote.
Delaware
Time has come to stop writing
To all my great readers, the past eight years have just flown by. It’s time to retire again. It was enjoyable writing stories about my life history, stories about Delaware history. I hope everyone learned something new about Delaware. It’s a great city to live in and raise your family.
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Delaware
Delaware senator to lead visit to Denmark as Trump presses to annex Greenland
What are journalists missing from the state of Delaware? What would you most like WHYY News to cover? Let us know.
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons is leading a Congressional bipartisan delegation to Denmark later this week. Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride will join Coons alongside Democratic Reps. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, Gregory Meeks of New York and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis from North Carolina.
The visit comes as President Donald Trump has threatened the country’s capital Copenhagen over his desire to annex Greenland into the United States. In recent statements, Trump has not ruled out purchasing or using military action against Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark.
“I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump said last week.
In a news release, Coons said the trip is meant to highlight more than 200 years of friendship between the two countries. The delegation will meet with Danish and Greenlandic government and business leaders to discuss issues including Arctic security and strengthening trade relations.
“Denmark has always been a strong diplomatic, economic, and security partner who sacrificed more lives than any other country relative to its population when the United States invoked Article 5 following the September 11 attacks,” Coons said in a statement. “At a time of increasing international instability, we need to draw closer to our allies, not drive them away, and this delegation will send a clear message that Congress is committed to NATO and our network of alliances.”
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