Associated Press
NEWARK — The Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates agreed Thursday on the need for education reform in Delaware, and that early-childhood education programs will be a key factor in any successful reform effort.
Republican William Swain Lee and Democrat Jack A. Markell spoke at a University of Delaware conference centered on Vision 2015, an effort by educators, business leaders and state officials aimed at establishing a world-class education system in Delaware within the next seven years.
While the goals and recommendations of Vision 2015 are wide-ranging, Mr. Lee and Mr. Markell both said that early-childhood education programs are critical in establishing a foundation for student success.
"I’ve met too many 5-year-olds with a vocabulary deficit of thousands of words," Mr. Markell said. "We know that’s a bad way to start out."
Mr. Lee agreed with Vision 2015 leaders that the achievement gap between minority students and their peers can be eliminated, and that it can be recognized as early as pre-kindergarten. Students who fall behind in those early formative years account for a large number of disruptive students in later grades, and the majority of ninth-graders who don’t graduate, he said.
"That’s really where it has to start," Mr. Lee said.
Each man also vowed that, if elected governor, he would appoint a secretary of education who was "a change agent."
"It must be somebody who is absolutely committed to this plan," Mr. Lee said, waving a Vision 2015 pamphlet.
Mr. Markell said that if he is elected governor, he would appoint "an entire cabinet of change agents."
Mr. Lee and Mr. Markell also agreed on scrapping the Delaware Student Testing Program, a standardized, statewide assessment, and replacing it with a new test that is a broader, better indicator of student achievement.
They also embraced the Vision 2015 idea of compensating teachers based on performance, not seniority.
Vision 2015 chairman Marvin Schoenhals said the idea of rewarding employees for seniority may have been appropriate for the factory floor, but that it has no place in a professional classroom.
Schoenhals also called for revamping the state’s school-funding formula to allow for more local control and decision-making, along with corresponding accountability.
"I challenge our next governor to support the implementation of Vision 2015 and to work with the General Assembly to expand the Vision 2015 network," he said, adding that the legislature needs to release its "iron-fisted" control of schools and focus instead on outcomes.
Mr. Schoenhals, chairman of WSFS Bank, also said the Delaware State Education Association, the state teachers union, must recognize that the traditional "lockstep" approach to teacher careers is no longer appropriate in the 21st century, and that student achievement has to be a major part of teacher evaluations.
Mr. Lee said the state’s merit system for employees doesn’t really reward merit.
"We would like to think that all teachers are created equal; it’s just not true," he said, adding that changing the state’s education culture will be "incredibly painful."
"I don’t care how many people I make mad," Mr. Lee said. "I want to do what is right."
