Jahsha Tabron, Delaware Teacher of the Year for 2022, is set to deliver a keynote at “Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Through Literacy,” a one-day event developed in partnership between the International Literacy Association (ILA) and Delaware State University (DSU).
The event, which takes place May 19, 2023, 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. ET, and will be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center on DSU’s campus in Dover, DE, is geared toward K–12 literacy professionals as well as faculty at institutes of higher education in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Tabron, an alumnus of DSU, currently serves as the ninth-grade dean of students at Brandywine High School in Wilmington, DE, and has worked in special education for more than two decades. Her areas of expertise include school leadership, social-emotional learning (SEL) and family engagement—the latter of which she says she sees as “the key to facilitating academic and emotional success.
The program for the in-person event—ILA’s first since COVID-19 disrupted the organization’s annual conferences—features interactive sessions that directly support the state’s education goals for literacy and SEL, research- and evidence-based instructional practices, and inclusive classrooms. Presenters include an impressive list of other Delaware educators as well. Among them:
- Amanda Bodine, Instructional Coach, Booker T. Washington Elementary School, Dover, DE
- Teré Crawford, First-Grade Teacher, Towne Point Elementary School, Dover, DE
- Yvette Davenport, Principal, Hartly Elementary School, Hartly, DE
- Lindsay Osika, English Language Arts Specialist, Capital School District, Dover, DE
Tony Allen, chief executive officer at DSU, will also deliver remarks.
Nicola Wedderburn, ILA executive director, says the organization is thrilled to work with DSU, recently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the number 2 public Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and number 8 HBCU overall.
“Research has shown that belonging has an incredible impact on students’ socioemotional, academic and behavioral outcomes,” Wedderburn said. “DSU has created a culture of belonging on its campus and is shaping the next generation of educators to carry those principles into schools and classrooms.”