Delaware News

Governor’s Weekly Message Transcript: Making Progress Together on Our Race to the Top

Former Governor Jack Markell (2009-2017) | News | Date Posted: Friday, March 23, 2012



 

Usually when you win a race, you get to stop and catch your breath. But instead of taking a break after we won the federal Race to the Top to build some of the nation’s strongest public schools, Delaware had to start running even harder.

Because we are in constant competition – with states across our country and countries all over the world – in a race to ensure our kids can graduate ready to succeed in work or college, the stakes are enormous.

Quality education remains a top factor when it comes to companies deciding where to launch, where to hire and where to expand. Hiring decisions are being made by companies right now. And the strength of our schools impacts those decisions. That economic imperative is why – for years – Delaware’s committed itself to the hard work of raising student achievement. It’s why educators and employers, parents and administrators, community leaders and public officials have been focused together on making good schools even better. And while those efforts were underway before Race to the Top, winning gave us additional resources and an additional imperative to make those changes real.

Our nation’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wanted to come to Delaware for an honest discussion about the distance we’ve travelled and the road ahead.

He wanted a chance to see some of what’s working – for example, using data to help drive decisions on how to better help our kids. But he also wanted to make clear there are going to be starts and stops – that some things are only learned the hard way, and if there were only easy answers, there’d be no point in asking hard questions.

Our message back to him is – at least in Delaware – we’re doing this hard work together. We’re focused on where we can make the most progress, where we can have the greatest impact for our kids, and where we still need to push ahead to keep Delaware, moving forward.

image_printPrint


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.

Governor’s Weekly Message Transcript: Making Progress Together on Our Race to the Top

Former Governor Jack Markell (2009-2017) | News | Date Posted: Friday, March 23, 2012



 

Usually when you win a race, you get to stop and catch your breath. But instead of taking a break after we won the federal Race to the Top to build some of the nation’s strongest public schools, Delaware had to start running even harder.

Because we are in constant competition – with states across our country and countries all over the world – in a race to ensure our kids can graduate ready to succeed in work or college, the stakes are enormous.

Quality education remains a top factor when it comes to companies deciding where to launch, where to hire and where to expand. Hiring decisions are being made by companies right now. And the strength of our schools impacts those decisions. That economic imperative is why – for years – Delaware’s committed itself to the hard work of raising student achievement. It’s why educators and employers, parents and administrators, community leaders and public officials have been focused together on making good schools even better. And while those efforts were underway before Race to the Top, winning gave us additional resources and an additional imperative to make those changes real.

Our nation’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wanted to come to Delaware for an honest discussion about the distance we’ve travelled and the road ahead.

He wanted a chance to see some of what’s working – for example, using data to help drive decisions on how to better help our kids. But he also wanted to make clear there are going to be starts and stops – that some things are only learned the hard way, and if there were only easy answers, there’d be no point in asking hard questions.

Our message back to him is – at least in Delaware – we’re doing this hard work together. We’re focused on where we can make the most progress, where we can have the greatest impact for our kids, and where we still need to push ahead to keep Delaware, moving forward.

image_printPrint


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.