to be held in Dover next Wednesday

(Dover, De.)  The Delaware Department of Education (DOE), in collaboration with the Delaware Academy for School Leadership at the University of Delaware, will host the Fifth Annual Policy and Practice Institute on Wednesday, June 27^th at the Sheraton Inn and Conference Center in Dover.  The theme of this year’s institute will be Leadership for Learning: Developing Instructional Leaders for Delaware Schools.  The institute is open to all Delaware administrators, teachers, policymakers and representatives from higher education, professional organizations, business leaders, and city and town government.

Secretary of Education Valerie Woodruff will provide opening remarks regarding the Department of Education’s vision for a cohesive leadership system.  Dr. Joseph Murphy, author and associate dean of the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University, will be the morning keynote speaker and will speak on the topic of Changing Roles and Responsibilities of School Leaders.

The keynote speaker following lunch will be Angus McBeath, a retired superintendent from Edmonton, Canada. Edmonton is the highest achieving school district in the world and has been the model school system for setting the standard for Delaware schools by the Vision 2015 Committee.  

Following McBeath’s comments, participants will learn more about the plans for implementing Vision 2015 statewide.  Dr. Dan Rich, Provost at the University of Delaware will join Rob Resigno, liaison for Vision 2015 and Secretary Woodruff to discuss plans for implementing Vision 2015.

The Policy and Practice Institute is funded by the Wallace Foundation. Delaware is one of 22 states that have been supported by the foundation. Since 2001 Delaware has received $1.34 million from the foundation to support the leadership work.  DOE has worked in partnership with local school districts, charter schools and universities to develop a cohesive leadership system including a set of national standards for school leaders as the foundation and policies that support them as they work on improving student achievement in Delaware schools. This system also includes a revised licensure and certification system; redesigned pre-service preparation programs at Delaware universities offering masters and doctoral degrees in school leadership; a program approval process for school leadership programs; mentoring; a continuum of professional development aligned to the school leader standards; and a statewide evaluation system to assess school leaders’ effectiveness.  

“Delaware has made great progress in developing a leadership support system that connects all the important pieces together,” said Secretary Woodruff.  “It is essential that a strong framework is in place for educators throughout the system to take responsibility for increased student learning.”

Jackie Wilson, Project Director and Associate Director of the Delaware Academy for School Leadership at the University of Delaware agreed.  “This leadership system has been developed to include high quality university preparation programs and a certification system that is seamless. It also means that once the individual steps into the role of assistant principal or principal, we support them with a quality mentoring program and professional development that improves their skills and knowledge along the career ladder.”