Something that Delaware Did Right
Jul 21st, 2009 by David Anderson
It appears that actually teaching reading works. Delaware made more progress closing the achievement gap between black and white students than any other state. This is thanks in part to Carper era reforms. Charter schools, reading specialists, and standards that included decoding all played a role in my view. It is easy to criticize what is wrong, but we also need to understand what works as we move forward.
These results show that a focus on core skills leads to better results. It sounds fundamental, but was not always accepted let alone practiced.
It is good news that we have a narrow achievement gap in all categories really. I think it is also good that both groups tend to sit higher on the spectrum than the national averages if only by a little bit in some cases.
You would think that as much as we spend on education that we would be at the top of the heap not in the middle. We are near the top in spending, but the middle in results.
Good point we are getting a return for our investment but it is out of proportion with the amount invested.
The point is made well by the comment that follows the article you linked to. I believe him when he says he’s a product of Delaware schools. I’ve heard it said that reading is the skill that enables all other skills. Until we concentrate on this one core skill, we can forget all the rest because it just won’t matter.
[...] he offers rare praise for former Governor Carper for some of his education reforms, like teaching [...]