State education leaders and entities play vital, if not always highly visible, roles in establishing high-quality professional learning. Through legislation and regulations, resource allocation, leadership support, and more, they establish a vision of professional learning and support its implementation in districts and schools. In particular,…

This approach article describes the structure of the new Composition and Speech Program at Delaware State University, particularly in light of the use of discourse-based interview (DBI) methodology in the development process of the program. The program includes a 4-course sequence--three 2-credit hour composition courses and one 3-credit hour…

In 2017, the National 4-H professional research, knowledge, and competencies (PRKC) taxonomy was updated reflecting the current needs of 4-H youth development professionals. Knowledge and skill gaps of 4-H professionals need to be identified to optimize resource allocation for professional development on the state and regional level. We developed…

The increased use of technology has not decreased the need for soft skills, which are critical for companies that provide interchangeable products and services. Employers are looking to recruit applicants with technical and soft skills, but research has revealed that new hire soft skills are not meeting employers' expectations. Employers expect…

This qualitative study aims to under the professional development experiences of Black women at Delaware's higher learning institutions. The study addresses the limited research on Black female higher education professional within a specific state. The phenomenological qualitative methodology allowed the researcher to tell the stories of…

Online Professional Learning (PL) has become a fundamental modality of providing PL support to teachers. The online learning design is one of the characteristics linked to the course's effectiveness. This Educational Leadership Portfolio (ELP) aims to improve the quality of online professional learning courses by identifying the features of online…

Successful implementation of a Residential Curriculum Model is dependent on the preparedness and investment of professional staff to design the learning experiences taking place in residence halls. Recent literature urges student affairs educators to embrace approaches which contribute to student learning beyond the classroom. This concept has…

This article shares the results from a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study of a promising transition-focused professional development approach. The 12-week team-based intervention resulted in positive outcomes among intervention group participants' knowledge and capacities. The intervention group exhibited statistically significant changes in…

School leadership is a critical factor in school improvement. The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) and Region 4 Comprehensive Center (R4CC) have strengthened school leadership through implementation of the Delaware Leadership Network and the Delaware Principal Supervisor Leadership Program. These two major efforts, collaboratively designed…

Dual enrollment courses allow students to earn college credit while they are still enrolled in high school. This arrangement is proving popular with schools, students, and parents, as once the students get into college, they tend to earn a higher first-year grade-point average and show a higher completion rate than do students who have not…

In partnership with the Educating All Learners Alliance and the Canopy Project, CLE identified and interviewed school leaders who found innovative ways to provide meaningful inclusion for students with disabilities. This brief shares lessons from school leaders committed to ensuring that students with disabilities are meaningfully included and…

When done reliably and efficiently, measuring school climate can help improve schools' vital signs and help state boards of education realize their goals and objectives for the system as a whole. Moreover, because it is as consequential to schools as checking heart rates and blood pressure are to humans, schools should always use climate measures…

This study aims to understand from literature and from teacher perspectives the features of an effective professional development program for teacher learning and the essential instructional elements and activities for teaching with conceptual understanding. The goal was to produce a set of professional development modules on linear functions that…

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, State Education Agencies (SEAs) had to quickly move professional learning (PL) opportunities for educators to a virtual environment. This state spotlight presents how the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) implemented virtual collaborative book studies to develop the expertise and build the capacity of state,…

Higher education is experiencing unprecedented change due to economic and demographic projections, largely focusing on the usage of adjunct faculty. No longer will community colleges be able to rely solely on full-time faculty to ensure that students persist to graduation. This executive position paper provides a proposed plan for a formalized…