Superintendent: modern state assessments demand higher reading and written responses; Brandywine claims rare statewide educator sweep

Superintendent Dr. Lawson told the Brandywine School District board that state assessment items have shifted from single-answer computational or recall questions toward multi-step, real-world problems that require reading comprehension, reasoning and written explanation.

Using side-by-side examples, Dr. Lawson contrasted DSTP-era items that asked students to select a single correct response with Smarter Balanced items that ask fifth- and eighth-grade students to analyze passages, compute multi-step solutions and provide short or extended written responses scored to rubrics. He said current items place higher cognitive demands on students and, while proficiency rates are sometimes portrayed as a measure of basic literacy, scores often reflect a higher bar that includes reasoning and written explanation.

Dr. Lawson also highlighted district achievements: Brandywine earned three statewide honors this cycle — Delaware State Teacher of the Year (Dr. Jenna DeLaterio, Talley Middle School reading specialist), Delaware principal of the year (Dr. Sterling Siemens, Springer Middle School) and assistant principal of the year (Amber Toss, P.S. DuPont Middle School). The superintendent said the distinctions reflect the district’s depth of instruction and leadership.

Board members thanked students and staff for recent community drives and programming tied to student well-being and academic supports. Dr. Lawson said district communications will post more information and that staff plan additional outreach about curriculum and identification processes for specialized programs.

What’s next: Dr. Lawson said the district will continue public communication about assessment context and will provide parents additional information about gifted and specialized program identification.