Dr. Tanya Hettler is the director of the Center for Education Policy at the Caesar Rodney Institute.
Sen. Laura Sturgeon, D-Woodbrook, sponsored Senate Bill 165, titled “An Act to Amend Title 14 of the Delaware Code Relating to Student Improvement Component,” which has just passed the Delaware General Assembly.
The bill requires the Department of Education to pilot a new method of teacher evaluation that allows educators to choose how they are assessed and considers factors that may negatively affect student performance, such as student absences, noncompliance or a lack of parental involvement. In practice, this could allow poor test scores to be excluded entirely from a teacher’s evaluation — regardless of classroom instruction — raising concern about accountability and transparency.
As is often the case, this bill is misleadingly framed as a “student improvement” measure, when it is actually about making teacher evaluations easier and thus will not lead to student improvement. Instead of overlooking student absences and behavior problems, shouldn’t schools and teachers be working to decrease these kinds of disruptive behaviors and increase parental involvement?
Over the past four years, Delaware lawmakers have passed four science of reading bills. SoR involves direct and explicit instruction in phonics, along with four other essentials that have been proven effective in teaching literacy.
The first of these, Senate Bill 4, passed in 2021, yet does not require the curriculum to be fully implemented until the 2027-28 year. This delay means another six years of students who have not learned to read. This is unacceptable.
States that hold students, teachers and families accountable for literacy have far better literacy scores than Delaware, which continues to obscure poor literacy results and is attempting to reduce accountability even further through SB 165.
While the rest of the country works effectively to implement SoR in their schools, so students can learn to read, Delaware seems more focused on decreasing accountability and unconcerned with being among the bottom five states in academic performance, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Delaware’s public school students are suffering because their teachers and schools are not held accountable for teaching them basic reading and math. Only 41% of Delaware students can read at grade level, and only 31% can do math at grade level. Delaware teachers should not have even less accountability, as proposed in SB 165. In what other profession are employees allowed to choose their evaluations? None. SB 165 focuses on what makes life easier for adults in our schools, rather than what is best for children.
Delaware must immediately require teachers to be trained in SoR and require that it be implemented to teach literacy in all districts when school starts in September. There are districts in the state that have not even begun SoR professional learning. Some superintendents do not even seem aware that a law requires it to be taught or that it is entirely backed by scientific and classroom evidence.
When it comes to evaluating teachers, we should continue to use the statewide Smarter Balanced assessment (or choose another statewide assessment) to compare student performance at the beginning and end of each grade.
Additionally, schools should be held accountable for implementing effective policies to reduce absenteeism and for improving communication with families, such as those implemented in West Seaford Elementary School, rather than ignoring these issues.
Delaware’s legislature should also reverse Senate Bill 85, a measure about student discipline, which has led to significant increases in student misbehavior and general chaos in Delaware schools, as reported in a survey conducted by the Delaware State Education Association.
SB 165 will be a disaster for Delaware’s students. The last thing our schools need is another excuse for poor academic performance. Instead, Delaware must enforce its Science of Reading laws, so students can learn to read, and schools must implement effective strategies to reduce absenteeism and behavioral problems.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
