Each May during National Teacher Appreciation Week, Delaware takes a moment to honor and celebrate the incredible contributions of educators across the state. Businesses offer teacher specials. School administrations and parent teacher organizations provide lunches. Students and families show their thanks with notes or small gifts. Elected leaders recognize the profession. All aim to honor [...]
The following guest column was written by Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick. As Delaware Secretary of Education, I am entrusted with overseeing and improving educational systems throughout the state. A crucial part of this responsibility is making sure schools have the resources they need to provide a quality education to all students. In Delaware, [...]
This guest column was written by Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick and Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) Secretary Josette D. Manning. --- As summer comes to an end and a new school year begins, now is the time to remind local communities that continuing to protect ourselves against influenza, COVID-19, Respiratory [...]
Welcome school staff, families, and community members to the 2023-24 school year. I hope everyone is well and eagerly anticipating the new opportunities ahead. As I liked to say each August when I was a district superintendent, “It’s go time.” All the summer preparation, planning and work is about to pay off, and we are [...]
Co-written by Dr. Mark Holodick and Delaware Technical and Community College President Dr. Mark T. Brainard. Delaware has been experiencing a teacher shortage for years, but the problem is not unique to the First State. Nationwide, 18% of public schools in the United States last fall had one teaching vacancy, and 27% had multiple vacancies, [...]
One of the greatest gifts of education is that it exposes students to new perspectives and ideas. Through education, children get more opportunities to hone in on their likes and dislikes, gain a greater understanding of their world, and eventually determine and work toward the future they most prefer. Traditional education typically occurs in – [...]
Recently, the UCLA School of Law released a database showing that Delaware is the lone state to have zero measures enacted or even introduced that would ban instruction on how race and law have been used to produce systemic discrimination, more commonly known as critical race theory (CRT). Delaware does not teach CRT. Never [...]
The following post was written by Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick. As data continues to emerge and be dissected, it is apparent that the pandemic has had long-lasting impacts on our students. Impacts that are directly affecting student success in critical areas such as basic reading skills, math problem solving, and personal self-regulation. Anyone working in [...]
By Delaware Education Secretary Mark A. Holodick, Ed.D. As we begin the start of another school year, I would like to thank each of you for your hard work and resilience, especially these past few years. During my time as principal and superintendent in Delaware schools, I would start each school year with colleagues by [...]
By Delaware Education Secretary Mark A. Holodick, Ed.D. Education has seen many challenges over the past two years. Students and families have had to deal with interrupted learning due to the pandemic as well as limited access to summer programming. According to independent studies and student achievement data, this has resulted in notable learning deficits [...]
