Models of Excellence In Education

The Steering Committee

In order to narrow the scope of the project and to develop a selection process and design, a steering committee was created. Members of the committee include representatives of several school districts in Delaware, state government, community organizations and the business community. The committee met approximately once a month as it developed the Models of Excellence in Education initiative.

Selection process and design

Because the goal of this initiative was to identify schools that raised student achievement, and the best available uniform measure of student achievement was the Delaware State Testing Program, preliminary candidates were selected based on two factors: a) Absolute scores on the DSTP and b) Improvement over time (2001 School Accountability Improvement ratings).

The resulting list was sent to the superintendent of each school district in Delaware. They were asked to nominate a listed school from their district that employed a practice or program that they believe had a measurable effect on raising student achievement. The chiefs were asked to provide a rationale for the choice, including details of the practice and anecdotal and other data.

Superintendents were permitted to nominate a school that wasn’t listed as long as they provided a rigorous defense of the choice, including a rationale for why the practice at that school did not result in high absolute DSTP scores and significant improvement.

The subcommittee then reviewed 17 nominations and chose a group of finalists. Special consideration was given to those schools that had closed the achievement gap with respect to minorities and low-income population.

Small groups of subcommittee members then conducted site visits that included interviews and observations to gain a deeper understanding of what has contributed to the school’s success.

Outcomes

The six schools that were chosen as Models of Excellence in Education were selected based on the information and data gathered from the submissions from district superintendents and site visits.

These six schools were celebrated at a ceremony in September and awarded $5,000. They also participated in a forum on December 10th where they shared their practice or methods with other schools, teachers and parents.

The information, data and forum presentations will be gathered and posted on the Web in the future.

Models of Excellence is partnered with the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce's Superstars in Education program. Please visit the Superstars in Education website at: http://www.dscc.com/state_chamber/affiliates/partnerships/Superstars_Education.htm for more information.