Background: Youth mental health needs have worsened following COVID-19. Rising demand for school mental health services is straining capacity. Several states have added policies requiring mental health education, yet these vary widely and barriers to operationalization exist. Purpose: This paper explores the onerous landscape of mental health…

Despite national attention for academic success, data shows that students with disabilities in the Appoquinimink School District do not share in this success. The district boasts a large enrollment in AP courses and high scores in both the state standardized tests and AP exams. However, students with disabilities consistently perform well below…

Across the country, career pathways programs are a popular bipartisan tool for addressing state workforce shortages and ensuring students graduate high school with workforce-ready skills. Delaware Pathways is one such example, formally established by executive order in 2016 by then-Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. The program consists of state-approved…

Although the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies in bullying prevention has received increased recognition, limited research has examined youth's cyberbullying victimization (CBV) experiences through a school-wide SEL perspective. Guided by the school-wide SEL framework and the social-ecological model, this study…

Although the psychological impacts of cyberbullying victimization (CBV) have been documented, research is inconclusive about the role of contextual factors in the association between CBV and student engagement. Sampling 16,237 adolescents from 43 schools in Delaware, we used multilevel modeling to test how CBV was associated with emotional and…

The concurrent associations between students' perceptions of cognitive-behavioral and emotional engagement in schools and three factors aligning with the major aims of the school-wide social-emotional learning (SEL) approach (i.e., teacher-student relationships, student-student relationships, and teaching of social and emotional competencies) were…

Guided by the social-ecological, social identity, and social misfit theories, the present study examined the gender, racial/ethnic, and grade-level differences of students' perceived school safety and their associations with bullying victimization and school-wide bullying using a sample of 25,896 students from 114 public schools. Results of…

This report presents results of teacher and student surveys on how powerful Mathematics Design Collaborative practices are shifting how teachers teach. It also summarizes student achievement data from schools using the strategies in four states. In vignettes and testimonials, teachers who completed Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)…

Preparing students to be successful in high school AP courses and exams begins at the middle school level. SpringBoard is a program created by the CollegeBoard to bridge content expected in high school with the current middle school curriculum. SpringBoard was introduced and piloted in the Colonial School District during the 2014-2015 school year…

The goal of this study was to develop a parent school climate survey of high practical utility, grounded in theory, and supported by evidence of the reliability of its scores and validity of the inferences for their use. The Delaware School Climate Survey-Home is comprised of seven factors: Teacher-Student Relations, Student-Student Relations,…

This executive position paper proposes an innovative Career and Technical Pathway for secondary education. The Secondary Teacher Education Pathway (STEP) is a teacher education pathway for high school students who are interested in teaching as a profession. The goal of this Program is to increase the number of African American male teachers in…

"Looking Closer" is the eighth biennial report to SREB states on their progress in meeting SREB's Challenge to Lead goals for education. Each customized state report documents progress on both measurable outcomes and state policies. Through effective policy implementation, the goals can help states drive improvements in student…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine special education teachers' perceptions of the daily process of documentation of academic accommodations provided to special education students on their caseloads, Grades 6-10. The purposefully selected sample was comprised of 12 middle and high school special education teachers who teach in…

This Technical Brief presents an historical analysis of key indicators of dropout for Delaware students in grades 9-12. Cut points for key risk indicators of high school dropout for the State of Delaware are provided. Using data provided by the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE), relationships between student dropout and several student…

"Taking Stock and Pushing Forward" (2014) reports states' progress toward the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education. State-specific documents report on student achievement as well as essential state policies to improve it. Among the many metrics: how states are improving achievement on NAEP [National Assessment of Educational…