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New School Year, New Programs, Same Focus on Moving Forward

Written on: September 7th, 2012 in Education

Pens, pencils, laptops, netbooks and notebooks – it’s back-to-school time for thousands of Delaware students and this will be an important year for them, their parents, our educators and our state.

The summer provided many with a much-needed, well-deserved break, but as students and teachers head back into the classroom, there is plenty to do – building on existing programs and beginning new initiatives.

To build on our existing strengths, we will deepen implementation of our Race to the Top plan; raise the bar for students with Common Core standards; and support educators with more meaningful evaluations and professional development. 

We’ll also increase our support for struggling schools through the Partnership Zone and Focus School programs. Our teachers and students had great success last year – more than 10,000 additional children left school proficient in reading and more than 9,000 additional students reached proficiency in math. The gains occurred across all grades and subjects.

As excited as I am about that progress, our work isn’t over and there are a handful of new programs to help Delaware students realize success, both in the classroom and beyond. We are preparing hundreds of elementary school students with four world language immersion programs and launched new Early Childhood education initiatives.

While we are on the path to success, we must continue to work hard and we must focus on openly evaluating what is working and be willing to change direction when needed.

For now, I simply want to say thank you to educators, parents, students and communities who have worked so hard to improve student learning over the past few years. I look forward to the coming year and later celebrating with you the even greater gains to come.

Tags: Delaware, education, teachers