This is old news actually.  It closed the 25th of February after being open for a month.  Originally it was to be open for two weeks, then with a lack of participation, was extended for two weeks more.

To understand education in Delaware you need to see the results here….

Originally the anticipated rate was 50%.  Some of us encouraged more to participate,  in order to get a fuller picture of what problems were being faced with the corporatization of Delaware’s school system.  Otherwise known as the “Pay To Learn Plan”…(PTLP)..

6025 out of 10731 educators completed the survey.  That is over the target by 10 percent.

There was another contingent of educators that was encouraging teachers not to take the test.  It was a trust issue, and to be valid, if the results were changed from negative, and switched over to that of supporting by those now with access to the raw data,  a favorable outlook could then be presented without it really being true.  Having a majority appear to sign on to something done in secret, and no one really knows if the data is accurate,  could be damaging to our students if the data were not trustworthy and true…

Granted, this manipulation is easily done in a digital age…

However, some of us realized that if the concerns of our teachers were not met, our children were doomed.  We understood that the test could be manipulated to show wrong data.  There existed this  option where if the data was being  manipulated, we were damned if we did, and damned if we didn’t.

Tennessee is undergoing terrible times right now.  They rushed into the RTTT with Republican Legislatures and a Republican Governor, and immediately unions were dissolved.   Although now its structure is in place with testing out the gazoo, they are in dire straits to fill teaching positions that are rapidly being vacated by disillusioned educators heading out for other states.

Tennessee’s  children will now suffer worse with RTTT than had their state not opted to Race To The Top.

That is why, only a true representation of teacher’s views toward the handling of the imposition of Common Core, (this race to scrap our entire current public educational system and instituting a brand new corporate one),  could lead us away from Tennessee’s fate.

It was the only defense against having Tennessee’s trauma inflicted upon us.

If they choose to manipulate the data, our children are doomed as well.  If they don’t, and our surveys are taken to heart, and teachers have a role at the table, and the administrators listen to them for once, our children will probably get the best possible education available.

However not filling the survey out as a protest,  I believe, left an avenue that not taken, could never bring the possibility of positive results….

Anyways, …. here are just some of the participation rates…

Christina  47.13%

Red Clay  56.50%

Brandywine  64.82%

Cape Henlopen   40.00%

Colonial  66.76%

Capital  73.50%

Every parent should go on site, click on their district and it expands so they can get a read-out of each and every school.   I would then encourage you to have a dialogue with their teacher to find out in depth why they chose to go the way they did.  Remember, whether a teacher went for it or against, it as with the child’s welfare first at heart…  The one thing that is not at issue is every teacher’s care and concern for every child…  What is important is that you, the parent, has a buy-in to this new educational system by sharing your concerns with your child’s teacher..

There is no good or bad here;  there is only progress, … and that is something all will agree is necessary to have…