Bookmark and Share

Mission - To effectively develop, consolidate, coordinate and deliver Delaware Department of Education services to all public schools, which leads to safe, caring, and healthy learning environments for all students.

Vision - To promote safe, caring and healthy learning environments that maximize student and child growth and development through education and the participation of the family and community at large.

Overarching Enduring Understandings

  • All children can learn.
  • The ability to learn is enhanced by a child's overall well-being, including physical, emotional and social health.
  • A safe, caring and healthy environment fosters a child's ability to learn.
  • Developing health and social competencies increases a child's ability to make appropriate choices in life and to be healthy.Connections to Learning
  • A child's life and the school environment are enriched by diversity.
  • Meaningful peer and caregiver relationships in preschool better prepare children for school and academic success.
  • Families and communities are essential participants in all aspects of a child's life.
  • Coordinated services and programs promote life-long learning and a healthy lifestyle.
  • Children need out-of-school supports and opportunities that complement learning in school.

Sub-domains

School Climate

Enduring Understandings

  • Children learn best when they feel they are in caring, safe environments.
  • A welcoming environment must be created for students, staff, families, and community.
  • These environments support a culture for learning.

School Climate and Discipline Website

Social & Emotional Health

Enduring Understandings

  • Social-emotional development and academic achievement represent a continuum of development that is needed for all children to grow up healthy and succeed in school and life.
  • Children’s excitement for learning, self concept, relationship with peers and adults, capacity to cooperate and manage themselves are components that lead to academic success.
  • As educators, we have the responsibility to support the intentional development of positive child-adult relationships and provide environments that allow all children to succeed.
  • Intensive interventions are paramount for vulnerable children (those with language, economic, and other hardships that place obstacles to social development and academic success).

Health, Nutrition, and Physical Activity

Enduring Understandings

  • Good health, proper nutrition and physical activity are obtainable goals for students, staff and administrators who desire to maximize educational opportunities and promote lifelong healthy behaviors.
  • Academic achievement is linked to these areas and the links are growing stronger.
  • Effective delivery of health services, proper nutrition and physical activity remove barriers to learning, reduce the loss of instructional time and enhance student readiness to learn.
  • Creative planning and interventions will assist all stakeholders in our efforts to ensure that no child is left behind.

Embedded Concepts

Diversity

Enduring Understandings

  • To create an effective learning environment we must take into account the makeup of that environment.
  • We must recognize the vast array of strengths, abilities, experiences, and cultures of the adults and children in that environment.
  • We must then use this information to create a safe, caring, learning environment for all.

Character Development

Enduring Understandings

  • Theodore Roosevelt said, “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
  • We must ensure we are developing good citizens.
  • These same traits which make good citizens are also essential in creating a safe caring learning environment.

Family and Community Collaboration

Enduring Understandings

  • Children learn and develop within the context of their families and their communities.
  • We must develop strategies and practices that promote family and community collaboration.
  • These strategies must include meaningful opportunities for families and the community to participate in our schools.
  • These relationships will be built on trust, respect and an understanding that we have a mutual responsibility for student success.
  • These collaborative relationships strengthen and support all connections to learning.

Additional Connections to Learning Resources and Information