The
Mid-Atlantic Region
The Mid-Atlantic Region includes five jurisdictions: Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These
four states and the District of Columbia serve over four million K-12
students - nine percent of the nation's total school-age population.
This density of students makes the mid-Atlantic region the third largest
among the 21 comprehensive center regions. Some 6,611 schools are
located within 1,174 districts across the five states.
Key Regionwide Needs
Based on MACC's comprehensive needs assessment of state educational
agencies in the mid-Atlantic region, state education program directors
and content specialists identified the following three cross-regional
needs:
- Raise the Base
There is a need and desire in every state to improve the performance
distribution of the lowest performing students. Thus, states in
the region are seeking ways to support districts and schools help
students meet proficiency in reading and math to make school and
district AYP targets and avoid "improvement" designations.
The overriding objective is to increase the achievement of the
lowest performers-typically students who are Black, English language
learners (ELLs), Hispanic, migrant, poor, and/or have a disability.
- Close Achievement Gaps
Chronic and seemingly intractable minority/majority achievement
gaps are pervasive across the region. The states in the region
recognize the gaps and are exploring strategies to better support
districts and schools focus to improve the performance of students
at the lower end of the performance distribution.
- Focus on Middle and High Schools
An analysis of student achievement data across the five jurisdictions
indicated a pattern of low performance at the middle and high
school levels. For example, in the area of mathematics there is
a notable decrease in performance particularly for ELLs and students
with disabilities.
Broad Needs Categories
In addition to the three cross-regional needs, the SEA directors
and content specialists also identified technical assistance which
state departments need to support for districts and schools and
in improvement status:
(1) Data Use
(2) Formative Assessment
(3) Content and Delivery of Effective
Instruction
(4) Instructional Leadership
(5) Professional Development
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