The COVID-19 pandemic was a clear reminder of how crucial teachers are to student achievement.
“The highest percentage of student success is attributed to the effectiveness of the teachers…who [create] ways to enrich the learning environment for kids to do well,” says Steve Lucas, superintendent of the Lake Forest School District.
As students continue to overcome educational obstacles brought about by remote learning for much of 2020 and 2021, teachers are finding innovative ways to incorporate technology and craft interactive environments to enhance classroom learning.
The Lake Forest School District, one of Delaware’s smallest, uses data from school assessments to create multitiered strategies to help students recover from the pandemic. Students are tested in the fall, winter and spring to gauge individual strengths and weaknesses to best align them with the right educator.
In the last few years, student assessments highlighted a loss in student learning, ranging from three to four months, due to pandemic challenges, Lucas points out, adding that the impact varies by student and that state assessments are only one form of learning measurement.
“[Our] principals are deliberately collaborating and sharing best practices to ensure every student receives a high-quality rigorous learning experience,” says Delaware Department of Education public information officer Alison May.
The 2023–24 school year shows an ongoing teacher deficit in Delaware. While neighboring states offer teachers a higher average salary, Gov. John Carney has taken a significant step to address the discrepancy.
In the 2024 fiscal year, he included a 9% pay bump for teachers to make the First State more competitive.
“We [must] continue to evolve in how we attract young professional, motivated teachers into this industry—because they’re everything,” Lucas says. “Our teachers are really the quality of our system.”
