Governor John Carney and Secretary of Education Susan Bunting on Tuesday announced their plans for helping schools support students and address unfinished learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using federal funding from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, Delaware will focus on key areas to support districts and charter schools in helping students make up for unfinished learning. The state received roughly $21 million for K-12 education and districts and charter schools received more than $164 million from this bill.
-
Support the Use of High-Quality Instructional Materials: Provide statewide licenses for access to high quality instructional materials such as Zearn Math for every rising 1st through 8th grader and Summer Booster Literacy for every rising 1st through 5th grader.
-
Support Training and Professional Learning: Provide initial and ongoing professional learning to support learning acceleration, which will also be open to those working in nonprofit programs and other summer and after-school programs.
-
Support Leveraging Data to Diagnose Unfinished Learning: Support schools to implement a balanced assessment system and leverage data that supports educators in diagnosing unfinished learning and providing the necessary scaffolds to ensure all students have access to grade level instruction.
-
Support Structures to Accelerate Learning: Provide high-dosage tutoring beginning this summer, with a focus on students who need the most support.
The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) will also provide access for every student to an online text repository of roughly 3 million e-books and the Delaware public library collection. Schools will have the ability to track how many texts students have read and how much time is spent reading. These resources and trainings are also available to community organizations, other entities serving students over the summer and after school, and to families at home, to ensure no matter where children are, they are getting high-quality educational services
