Delaware state officials and local educators collaborate on results-driven policy
Dover, Del. – On Monday, Delaware Secretary of Education Cynthia “Cindy” Marten rode a school bus to join student leaders, school officials and state legislators to learn how legislation and state policies are impacting the classroom.
After the latest national scorecard showed the state’s gains in reading and math, Marten said one of the biggest takeaways was making sure teachers are aligned with the science of reading and have preparation time.
“Teachers are ready to teach,” Marten said in an interview with WMDT. “It’s our job to protect instructional time. Give them the resources. Give them data that they can use all the time.”
She added that teachers need real-time data on students’ learning beyond end-of-year reports. “Teachers need real data that is meaningful to them and what they’re teaching in the classroom,” she said.
School officials said the collaboration between state and local levels helps administrators support educators which then boosts students’ achievements.
“I think that’s what’s so important about having those good, authentic conversations about what’s specifically working in our classrooms,” Dover Middle School of Innovation Principal Ryan Robinson said. “Once we find something that’s working, we want to cultivate and support our teachers so that we can replicate that across the board for all of our teachers.”
Dover Campus Middle School Of Excellence Principal Dr. Sherrie Sudler said she thought it was beneficial to be able to have the secretary and her team at the school to meet with educators directly.
“We’re able to see that clear alignment between our state strategic plan for education, our district plan, and then how our school plan then develops,” she said. “And they’re there to support students. And it gave our staff members an opportunity to see that alignment as well.”
For student leaders who have founded their own nonprofit to give more kids access to school supplies, they are working with the department to boost literacy rates.
“What’s the point of reading if you don’t have books to write on, right? And so that’s why we thought that it would be great to give up the school supplies year,” Ridhun Gujja said. Gujja is a rising sophomore at Wilmington Charter School.
