The science of reading, or the body of science-backed research that explains how the human mind acquires reading skills, continues to reverberate in Dover and beyond. We covered the topic in March, when the Senate Education Committee hosted a panel of experts who discussed why the science of reading is important for classrooms today.

Fast forward to this week’s Senate Education Committee Meeting, the legislature will consider a bill, SB133, that would help officially incorporate the science of reading into Delaware schools. The proposed legislation would build on and strengthen the work underway, especially in teacher preparation, higher education, and in the state Literacy Plan.

What does the bill do?

The bill essentially centers on two proposals: (1) ensure teacher preparation programs in Delaware teach reading instruction rooted in the science of reading, and (2) require a certain number of professional development hours for higher education faculty who teach literacy be in evidence-based reading instruction. Preparation programs would be required to embed the science of reading for early learning, elementary school, and special education teachers and reading specialists. This change would take effect starting with teacher preparation programs being approved by the state in July 2023 or later.

What have other states done?

Over the past decade, many states have taken action to ensure that literacy instruction is rooted in the core tenets of evidence-based reading. According to the Council of Chief State School Officers, 17 states have laws that address the science of reading.

Thirty-two states (including Delaware) have policies that address the science of reading in teacher preparation programs.

Why does this matter?

Currently, Delaware mandates teacher preparation program curriculum to include research and evidence-based instructional practices and components of literacy (like phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary). But the mandate remains general and does not specify other parameters for literacy instruction. SB133 would help to take the state one step further by specifying parameters to include in instruction.

The Delaware Department of Education’s Literacy Plan recognizes that Delaware has literacy challenges. Only 36 percent of Delaware’s fourth grade students scored proficient or advanced on the reading portion of NAEP in 2019, the only national standardized assessment of students. On Delaware’s standardized assessment, the Smarter Balanced Assessment, only 51 percent of third graders score at or above grade level in English Language Arts, with gaps in achievement among racial and socioeconomic subgroups.

The state literacy plan focuses on four core strategic intents: standards-aligned instruction, using high-quality instructional materials, enhancing early literacy instruction, and supporting educators in their teacher preparation. The DOE has been working with districts and charters to adopt high-quality instructional materials aligned with the science of reading—and with the University of Delaware to develop professional learning and microcredentials for educators.

The plan provides a framework to address Delaware’s literacy challenges, but does not address underlying policies. SB133 builds on the core area of teacher preparation outlined in this plan and provides a policy solution that could help propel the state forward in literacy.

What’s Next?

SB133 is a step in the right direction to begin a broader discussion on state policies to strengthen early literacy. Other states have adopted requirements for licensure and certification exams. Twenty states, including Maryland, require pre-service teachers to take a certification exam specifically grounded in the science of reading. Delaware does not. Other states have created mandatory requirements for professional development and coaching; Delaware does not.

We look forward to the State Board’s report on literacy requirements and best practices in other states, which will help inform regulatory and policy changes, expected in July.

To support these efforts, sign up for updates from the Senate Education Committee and tell your legislator to support SB133.

Teacher residencies continue to build major momentum in Delaware.

Teacher residencies—a teacher preparation model where a district or school partners with a university to provide coursework and real-life teaching experience to pre-service teachers—now have an official bill in Legislative Hall.

The bill looks to more heavily invest and expand teacher residency programs across the state. Delaware already boasts established examples of residency programs at Wilmington University and RELAY Graduate School of Education, as well as recently launched programs at the University of Delaware and Delaware State University.

What’s Being Proposed?

Currently, the state invests in yearlong teacher residencies on a year-to-year basis through the budget process; 52 resident stipends were funded in 2020-21 through the $1 million line item. HB178, introduced by Rep. Kim Williams (chair of the House Education Committee), codifies Delaware’s yearlong teacher residencies and ensures that funds are provided for sustained investment. The bill also provides guidelines on how and when funds are awarded and the parameters for the allowable use of funds.

Why Teacher Residencies?

Residencies are seen as the ‘gold-standard’ for teacher preparation because of the in-depth, immersive experience they provide candidates. The benefits of this route, as outlined in our previous blog, are best seen through improved recruitment and retention of candidates.

Residencies also typically focus on high-need content or hiring areas in a high-need school. In Delaware, this includes areas like: middle school and high school math, middle school and high school science, foreign language, secondary special education, and bilingual/ESOL programs.

Teacher residency programs can also help boost the recruitment and retention of teachers of color, an area where Delaware can do better. In Delaware, teachers and school leaders are overwhelming white while nearly half of the student population are students of color. As of the 2017-18 school year, less than 15 percent of teachers in Delaware were non-white.

What Else is Happening?

The introduction of HB178 is just one of the many examples of interest in teacher residencies in the First State.

In March 2021, the Educator Support Team at DDOE announced the latest awards to support yearlong teacher residencies from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Gov. John Carney’s recommended FY22 budget once again includes $1 million for teacher residencies.

Momentum is also building at Delaware’s institutes of higher education. The National Center for Teacher Residencies is working with DSU to develop their residency programs. The College of Arts and Sciences and College of Human Development at University of Delaware held a conference last February focused on teacher residencies.

What Next?

With the introduction of HB178, the state has an opportunity to affirm its commitment to teacher residencies. By taking this action, Delaware can provide a consistent structure and framing that will allow districts and IHEs to plan accordingly for each funding cycle.

To learn more about teacher residencies, view our blog and additional resources here.

Teacher residencies support Delaware’s teacher workforce, and the diversity of that workforce. Click here to find your legislator’s contact information and tell them directly that you support residencies, training, and supports for pre-service teachers.

Delaware slipped further behind in national rankings for providing access to state-funded preschool for children. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released its latest rankings for pre-K enrollment, and, much like last year and the years before, Delaware is ranked among the bottom states. This year, Delaware came in 42nd in providing access to state-funded pre-K to four-year-olds, down from 41^st last year. Delaware also ranks 24^th among states in providing access to three-year-olds, a decrease from last year’s ranking of 22^nd.

Delaware Landscape

NIEER’s rankings put Delaware behind all of our neighboring states and many others across the country (including states like Alabama). Delaware serves only 845 students in state-funded pre-K, which represents two percent of Delaware’s three-year-olds and five percent of four-year olds. If Delaware doubled the number of children that have access to pre-K, we would still stay in the bottom of state rankings.

As NIEER points out, Delaware families take advantage of other programs that serve three- and four-year-olds with funding from the federal government (like Head Start) or private pay. The exact numbers are unclear, but Head Start enrolls approximately six percent of local three-year-olds and eight percent of four-year-olds. About 78 percent of four-year-olds and 85 percent of three-year-olds are enrolled in other types of pre-K or no program at all.

Dr. Steven Barnett, NIEER’s senior co-director and founder has said that “even when the economy has been strong, [Delaware’s] progress providing state pre-K has been slow and uneven.”

Little has changed with Delaware’s NIEER standing since 2002, with preschool enrollment and spending per child remaining relatively flat. Delaware continues to invest four times more in K-12 students than it does in three- and four-year-olds, despite the fact that birth to age five are critical years for a child’s development.

Delaware’s state-funded mixed delivery pre-K program for three- and four-year-olds (the Delaware Early Childhood Assistance Program, or ECAP) has not been expanded since its inception in the 1990s.

As part of his  FY22 recommended budget for fiscal year 2022, Governor Carney indicated he will propose a future budget to double the state’s financial investment in ECAP from $6 million to $12 million amount by 2023-2024. This proposed increase comes as part of the school funding lawsuit settlement that was announced this past fall.

That investment would mark a small improvement for Delaware, but as advocates have noted, it would still come up far short of reaching all possible children. If we invested at the proposed rate of the settlement, we won’t be able to serve all our four-year-olds in high-quality programs for another 60 years, at which point a child entering pre-K today could file for social security.

Is Now the Perfect Time for Big Investment?

NIEER also released a brief that explores what it would take for the U.S. to expand access to pre-K on a wide scale. The group’s model depends on both state and federal governments splitting the bill to expand pre-K to low-income children within 10 years, and all children within 20 years. Cost-sharing between states and the federal government is a model that, as NIEER mentions, has been implemented with success before. With a major influx of funding from the American Rescue Plan and other sources, Local Education Agencies (LEAs) can consider adding pre-K slots or new capital projects.

According to Barnett, “Delaware continues to leave many children without access to high-quality pre-K” and in order to “make progress and expand access, state leaders must increase investment.”

Much more is needed to achieve the long-term vision of pre-K for all Delaware children. As we’ve said many times on this blog, investments in quality early learning yield enormous returns, for students, families, and society as a whole. Read more about Pre-K and expanding access to pre-K is important.

Call to Action

• Ask the legislature and members of the Joint Finance Committee to increase state investments in pre-K to support the workforce to attain higher qualifications and to expand access to high-quality, mixed-delivery pre-k.
• Plug into Delaware’s Early Childhood Education Advocacy Day on April 29. A panel of early childhood education advocates will discuss the child care industry and policy changes and investments to increase equity and save the child care industry.
• Learn more and find out how you can share your voice for Delaware’s kids and families by visiting FirstStatePreK.com.

As we’ve written before, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown just how critical the child care and early learning industry is to a functioning society. Yet the industry remains in crisis. Higher costs associated with pandemic safety protocols, decreased enrollment, and lower revenue forced many child care centers nationwide and in Delaware to close their doors entirely. As of this past August, nationally one in five child care jobs have been lost since the beginning of the pandemic. As of October, the child care industry was 83 percent as large as it was before the pandemic began.

But the harsh reality is: the child care industry was unstable even before the pandemic. At the crux of the problem is a workforce that has been overworked, overlooked, and underpaid for years.

Early learning educators and professionals receive lower pay compared to their K-12 counterparts—about half as much for a job that is full day, full year, and typically without benefits of paid time off. As of 2018, one in 10 child care workers had incomes that fell below the federal poverty line, twice the rate of the poverty rate for all workers.

Disparities in pay exist within the early learning workforce as well. Educators and child care professionals who work with infants and toddlers also earn less when compared to pre-K professionals. The early learning workforce in the U.S. is largely made up of women, 40 percent of whom are women of color. Disparities in pay in the early learning sector also extend to race and ethnicity with African American early learning educators earning less than their peers across racial groups.

Poor compensation also negatively impacts quality of early learning. Research shows that the first five years of a child’s life are critical to their learning and development. We also know that talented, well-compensated early learning professionals are central to high-quality early learning and care. Strong relationships with caregivers are essential to early brain development and can have positive effects on a child’s life long health and success. Poor compensation however undermines quality of care and is shown to lead to economic instability, stress, and high rates of turnover among early learning professionals.

In order to support the early learning workforce, there must be an increased investment in compensation so we can pay early learning professionals a living, family-sustaining wage with benefits and retain more early childhood educators to deliver high-quality learning and care.

Delaware Context 

Early childhood educators and professionals pay is significantly lower than their K-12 counterparts. As of 2019, the average annual salary in Delaware for a pre-K teacher is $27,820. A kindergarten teacher and an elementary school teacher each make more than double that amount earning an average annual salary of $61,040 and $63,970, respectively.  

Early childhood care and education professionals receive poor compensation and lack benefits. As of 2020, the hourly average wage in Delaware for a pre-K teacher is $12.62. For a child care worker in Delaware, the average hourly wage is $10.60. A 2016 report showed that 75 percent of early childhood professionals receive an hourly wage for their work rather than a salary with benefits. Legislatively, Delaware has introduced a minimum wage bill that could have implications for the early learning workforce. If the bill passes and the minimum wage goes up, contracts from the state to the child care industry will have to increase to cover that difference. 

Source: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. (2020). Early learning workforce index 2020: Delaware

Many child care professionals do not receive benefits and have to work a second job. Only 40 percent of early learning professionals in Delaware have healthcare benefits. Many miss out on other benefits, such as planning time and paid time off, unlike their K-12 counterparts. Without a livable wage and benefits, many child care workers have to maintain a second job to supplement their income, which includes about 13 percent of child care workers in Delaware. 

There is no wage scale for early childhood educators and early learning professionals. In addition to the glaring differences in pay, salaries for K-12 public school teachers are rooted in a wage scale, or pay schedule, that sets a base salary for all educators and serves as an incentive for educators to increase their level of educational attainment as they increase their years of experience. No such scale or incentive exists for pre-K or early learning educators and workers in Delaware. Therefore, there is no base, or starting salary for early learning professionals and no career pathway with financial incentives to increase their level of education along stackable credits, credentials, and experience—which several other states have created.  

Programs and initiatives have helped to financially support the early learning workforce, but none address the underlying system that allows the workforce to go underpaid. Over the years, organizations like the Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children (DEAEYC) and $tand by Me have worked to create and implement programs that help to financially support early childhood professionals. Programs and initiatives include:  

• $tand by Me financial coaching provided to early childhood workforce and families 
• Child Care WAGE$ Program salary supplement to increase support retention 
•  T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Delaware scholarship to serve CDA, AA, and BA candidates 

Delaware’s continued investment and expansion of these programs are critical to support the early learning workforce, but it is also crucial that policy action on structural change to compensation exists.  

What Are Other States Doing? 

Many states implement similar initiatives like scholarships or wage supplement programs to support early learning compensation and do not include large-scale changes necessary to increase compensation. Some states, however, have taken steps to initiate and enact structural changes to early learning workforce compensation, including pay parity and establishing a target wage scale for the early learning workforce.  

At least 18 states have established a form of pay parity, or the alignment of pay for pre-K teachers (those who teach three– and four-year–olds in state–funded settings) and K-12 teachers, according to NCSL. Two examples include Georgia and Alabama, states that used an incremental approach to ensure pre-K teachers across all settings (public and private) receive the same minimum or starting salary. However, no states have extended pay parity to other child care workers. 

States have also proposed and/or developed a wage scale for the early learning workforce.  

• In 2019, Connecticut passed a wage scale bill that requires the Office of Early Childhood to develop a proposed wage scale for state funded pre-K and child care centers.  
• Also in 2019, North Carolina’s legislature introduced (but did not pass) a bill that would have established a salary scale and created an incentive fund for programs that opted to adopt the scale. This bill would have also required a feasibility and cost study on payment, training, recruitment, and attainment of higher education for early childhood educators. 
• Rhode Island recently reintroduced the Rhode Island Early Educator Investment Act, which would include strategies to improve compensation for early educators. If passed, it would (among other things) create a non-mandatory target wage scale linked to education levels and demonstrated competence working with children.  

Where Do We Go From Here? 

There are initial steps Delaware can take to enact structural change and improve compensation for the early learning workforce. Some recommendations include: 

• Adopt a professional pathway like the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Power to the Profession (NAEYC).  
• Adopt an associated target wage scale for early childhood educators that will improve compensation and set a base salary for all workers. 
• Use the wage scale to inform the cost of care estimator, an alternative method to the market rate study to estimate the cost of providing child care in Delaware.
• Build in requirements and incentives for workforce support and qualifications into the new Quality Rating and Improvement System, the method Delaware uses to rate, improve, and communicate quality of early care. 
• Leverage new stimulus dollars from the American Rescue Plan to support the workforce through scholarships, compensation initiatives, and redesigning higher education to support the current workforce.