Guiding teams from about 100 Delaware public schools will gather in Dover the evening of May 1st to share best practices and lessons learned during their first year in Common Ground for the Common Core.
Joined by their superintendents, local school board presidents, PTA representatives, State Board of Education members and legislators, they will highlight exemplary work across Delaware.
“This is an opportunity to highlight the strong work being led by educators at the classroom and building levels across our state,” Secretary of Education Mark Murphy said. “As we learn from one another through shared successes and challenges, we can find ways to replicate what is working and course-correct what is not so that more of our schools realize these successes.”
As part of the state’s Common Ground for the Common Core, the teams are participating in an 18-month project designed to build capacity and support their implementation of the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards are a set of clear, consistent guidelines for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level in math and English Language Arts to ensure they are prepared for success after graduation.
On May 1st, teams will showcase their schools’ “bright spots,” sharing evidence of their Common Ground for the Common Core Implementation plans’ success. Their presentations will be transparent about challenges the school faced in its implementation, how their work changed this year because of Common Ground and what they consider their greatest successes. The goal is for the teams to share replicable, innovative, results-driven and solutions-focused examples that can benefit their colleagues in other schools.
Governor Jack Markell will address the group, and the keynote speaker is Sarah Wessling, a high school English teacher in Johnston, Iowa, who is the 2010 National Teacher of the Year and the Teacher Laureate for Teaching Channel. She hosts “Teaching Channel Presents” on public television stations across the country.
For more information, including resources for parents, on the Common Core State Standards, see the recently launched website www.DelExcels.org.
Media is welcome to join the meeting, which runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1 at Dover Downs.
