Educator Excellence

Michael L. Saylor, Ph.D., serves as the associate secretary of Educator Excellence at the Delaware Department of Education, where he has worked since 2018. In this role, Dr. Saylor leads the Educator Excellence team, which is responsible for strengthening and sustaining a high-quality, diverse educator workforce across the state.

The Educator Excellence team leads key efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain excellent educators for Delaware’s public schools. Their work includes expanding Grow Your Own programs, registered teacher apprenticeships, and year-long teacher residencies. The team also designs and scales high-quality educator induction programs, manages educator preparation program approvals and continuous improvement, supports the development of a statewide teacher career ladder, strengthens school leadership pipelines, and oversees the implementation of Delaware’s educator evaluation systems.

Dr. Saylor previously worked as an administrator in both Delaware and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, he served as a reading specialist and instructional coach, and he began his career as an elementary school teacher.

A recognized voice in workforce development and innovative staffing models, Dr. Saylor presents nationally on Delaware’s efforts to build educator pathways and improve educator effectiveness. In addition to his state leadership, he serves as a graduate faculty member at Albany State University, where he teaches courses in educational leadership.