August 2026

Delaware shows off its shared commitment to students

Video: Secretary of Education Cindy Marten reacts to her kindergarten photo and discusses the importance of a strong education strategy for students.

Education is something we build together

The first days of school are about more than students returning to classrooms. Across Delaware, people in many different roles are helping make a new school year possible.

They are educators and school employees welcoming students through the doors. They are families getting children ready each morning. They are community partners supporting schools, state leaders making decisions that affect students and Delawareans whose work contributes to the strength of public education.

This school year, the Delaware Department of Education is highlighting some of those people on social media through their own first-day-of-school photos and stories. Each shares a little about who they were when they first entered a classroom and how they are contributing to Delaware education today.

Together, their stories reflect something bigger: public education is a shared civic responsibility. Our schools belong to our communities, and the success of Delaware’s students depends on people across the state choosing to invest their time, expertise and support in them.

Secretary of Education Cindy Marten began by sharing her own kindergarten photo. The child in that picture could not have known she would grow up to become a teacher, principal, superintendent, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and, eventually, Delaware’s Secretary of Education. Her photo is a reminder of what we see in every child walking into a Delaware school this year: curiosity, questions, dreams, strengths and talents whose paths are still unfolding. Our shared responsibility is to make sure every student has the teaching, support and opportunities to find out where those possibilities lead.

Follow DDOE on social media throughout the back-to-school season to meet some of the Delawareans helping make that possible and see how people across our state are contributing to the shared work of educating our students.

Because back to school is something we do together.

Secretary Marten starts school year in Delaware classrooms

Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten steps off the Department of Education training school bus to greet Capital School District staff (more Capital pics, Seaford pics, Milford video). 

The best way to understand what students and educators need is to spend time with them in their schools.

As Delaware students returned for a new school year, Secretary of Education Cindy Marten visited schools in the Capital, Seaford and Milford school districts to listen, learn and see the work underway in classrooms.

At the Dover Middle School Campus in Capital School District, Marten met with educators and school leaders from both middle schools to hear how teams are strengthening instruction, building relationships and identifying student needs early. She also met student leaders from SkillSphere, who donated school supplies to support local students.

The conversations highlighted the importance of knowing every student by name, strength and need. Strong relationships help educators better understand how to teach, challenge and support each student, beginning with the first days of school.

Marten also joined U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester for a visit to West Seaford Elementary School in Seaford School District, where they welcomed Blue Jays back to school and spent time with students, educators and school leaders.

In Milford School District, Marten visited Milford Central Academy, continuing her back-to-school conversations with students, educators and school leaders and seeing firsthand how the school community is beginning the new year.

For Marten, school visits connect statewide education priorities with the daily experiences of Delaware students. Hearing directly from students and educators helps DDOE understand what is working, where schools need additional support and how state-level decisions affect teaching and learning.

That connection is central to DDOE’s approach: start with students, listen to the people closest to them and use what we learn to better support every Delaware school.

Statewide results show modest improvement, with larger gains in schools receiving focused support; overall proficiency remains below where students need it to be

The Delaware Department of Education this month released the first phase of its 2026 statewide assessment and accountability results. This release focuses on proficiency, showing whether students are meeting grade-level expectations, and includes results for students in grades 3 through 8 and SAT School Day results for students in grade 11. It is the first of several releases that will build toward the full Delaware School Success Framework, or DSSF, results on October 15.

Schools receiving targeted state literacy support showed some of the strongest gains in the 2026 results. Most schools receiving state-supported literacy coaching improved Grade 3 English language arts proficiency from 2025 to 2026. Among the nine schools with state literacy coaches and comparable Grade 3 results, eight showed increases, averaging 5.4 percentage points, compared with a 1 percentage point statewide increase. A 10th school, Banneker Elementary in Milford School District, was reconfigured and now serves students only through Grade 1.

The largest gains among the eight schools were at Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Johnson Elementary and Las Americas ASPIRA Academy charter school, where Grade 3 English language arts proficiency increased by 12 percentage points, followed by Gateway Charter School with an 11-percentage point increase.

These results give the department and local leaders reason to examine the relationship among literacy coaching, instructional materials, school leadership, classroom practice and implementation, and to apply lessons from improving schools to strengthen literacy instruction across the state.

Across grades 3 through 8, statewide results also showed modest improvement, especially in mathematics. English language arts proficiency increased from 41 percent to 42 percent, and mathematics proficiency increased from 34 percent to 35 percent. Grades 3 through 8 mathematics has now improved for four consecutive years, increasing from 30 percent in 2022 to 35 percent in 2026.

Overall proficiency remains below where students need it to be, and progress is uneven across schools, subjects and student groups. Additional data will be released over the coming weeks to provide information about student growth, attendance, college and career readiness, graduation rates, multilingual learner progress, school quality indicators and school accountability. Together, these measures will build a fuller picture of school performance through the DSSF. They do not replace or diminish the proficiency results released today.

In high school, Delaware uses the SAT School Day assessment, generally administered in grade 11. In 2026, 44 percent of students scored proficient or above in evidence-based reading and writing, compared with 47 percent in 2025. SAT essay proficiency increased to 43 percent, up 10 percentage points from last year.

High school mathematics remains one of Delaware’s clearest areas of concern. SAT mathematics proficiency remained at 18 percent for the third consecutive year, underscoring the need for stronger alignment among middle school mathematics, Algebra I, high school coursework and postsecondary expectations.

CTE educators building strong pathways for Delaware students

Delaware educators study aquatic insects in a pond near Dover High School as part of hands-on professional learning focused on environmental literacy, engineering and career preparation.

This summer, Career and Technical Education (CTE) educators across Delaware stepped into the role of learners themselves, building new skills and exploring ways to create stronger connections between the classroom and students’ futures.

Through two August professional learning opportunities, the Delaware Department of Education and its partners supported new and experienced CTE educators as they prepared for the school year ahead.

On August 5 and 6, new CTE teachers from across the state gathered at Legislative Hall in Dover for DDOE’s CTE New Teacher Summer Institute. Educators explored CTE Programs of Study, Career and Technical Student Organizations, advisory boards, student engagement, supports for students with disabilities and other resources available to help them succeed.

Many CTE teachers enter the classroom with years of professional and industry experience. The institute helps them turn that expertise into meaningful learning experiences for students while connecting them with colleagues and statewide CTE leaders.

A week later, educators gathered at Dover High School for hands-on learning focused on environmental literacy, engineering and career preparation.

The Purdue University TRAILS team, in partnership with DDOE and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, led educators through the same type of real-world learning they can bring back to students. Participants studied aquatic insects in a local pond, applied ideas from nature to an engineering challenge, created 3D designs, produced molds and tested working prototypes.

The experience supports Delaware’s Environmental Literacy in CTE Framework, which helps educators connect environmental considerations with technical learning, career preparation and workplace decision making.

Together, the two institutes reflect a shared goal: giving educators the knowledge, tools and support to create learning experiences that connect what students learn today with the opportunities available to them after graduation.

Because when we invest in strong CTE educators, we strengthen the pathways that help Delaware students turn their interests and talents into their futures.

Delaware launches first-of-its-kind civics, literacy summer institute

Educators from across Delaware participate in the state’s first Civics and Literacy Summer Institute, bringing together literacy instruction and civic learning to strengthen classroom instruction for students.

Strong readers learn to understand complex ideas, ask questions, weigh evidence and form their own conclusions. Those same skills help young people become informed and engaged members of their communities.

That connection is at the heart of Delaware’s Literacy for We the People initiative.

This summer, 25 educators from 14 Delaware school districts and charter schools came together for the state’s first Civics and Literacy Summer Institute, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. The intensive professional learning brought together the Science of Reading and high-quality civic education, giving educators new ways to help students build knowledge while strengthening reading, writing and critical-thinking skills.

The institute marks an important step in Delaware’s $8.7 million federally funded Literacy for We the People initiative. Over the next several years, more than 145 Delaware educators will receive professional learning designed to strengthen literacy-rich civic instruction across the state, helping students read deeply, think critically, and actively engage in their communities.

Delaware Department of Education I education.delaware.gov