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Delaware
The Delaware Department of Education is in the process of creating a web based instructional support gateway. The purpose of the gateway is to support the teaching and learning of the state content standards. The Department has hired a project manager to create a path forward for the web site. Serious effort at educational reform driven by consensually adopted content standards imposes new challenges upon teachers. These include a redefinition of roles and responsibilities. It casts teachers in the role of sophisticated consumers of curriculum planning, materials of instruction, and teaching strategies. The sophistication to choose wisely, adapt appropriately, and use curriculum guidelines well must be addressed through deep and sustained professional development activities.
The DelaWISE Project intends to build on the Curriculum Consumers Information Service (CCIS) system piloted by the Research & Development Center (University of Delaware in collaboration with the Department of Education, including funding from National Science Foundation). It will provide a comprehensive statewide support structure for Delaware teachers that gathers and promotes access to high-quality curriculum and instructional units and resources that present rigorous content aligned with the state's challenging academic standards. DelaWISE is designed to be the technology tool for standards-based classroom transformations.
A prototype has been developed and can be found on the state's web site: www.delawise.org/home2.asp. A consortium of four school districts developed the prototype. The project manager has conducted focus groups with teachers to determine how the prototype can be improved. In addition, the project manager has met with other SREB member states interested in working together to create a common format for the gateways within each state. In this way we could share common costs rather than pay individually for such things as the servers. When state officials have developed costs estimates, the project manager will provide the Secretary of Education a detailed budget. While the current web site represents a prototype, teachers are using the site to locate lessons, assessments and teaching videos directly aligned to the state content standards.
Contact
Orval Foraker
DelaWISE Project Manager
Delaware DOE
Townsend Building
Dover, DE 19903
302-739-4583 (p)