New statewide student assessment results reinforce students’ continued need for help to recover from pandemic school building closures.

In English language arts (ELA), 40 percent of students in grades 3-8 scored at or above their grade’s proficiency level this year, the same as in 2023. In mathematics, 33 percent of students in grades 3-8 scored at or above their grade’s proficiency level, up 1 percentage point from last year. Overall, proficiency remains below the pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (53 percent in ELA and 44 percent in mathematics).

For high school statewide assessment, Delaware uses the SAT. This year 45 percent of students scored proficient or higher on the reading test, up 1 percentage point from last year while 18 percent scored proficient or higher in mathematics, down 5 percentage points from last year. On the essay test, 37 percent were proficient, down 5 percentage points from last year. In 2019, 48 percent scored proficient or higher on the reading test with 28 percent doing so in math and 42 percent on the essay.

“These results spotlight how great our students’ needs remain,” Secretary of Education Mark Holodick said. “Schools across the state have been investing in extended learning time, tutoring, high quality instructional materials, social emotional learning efforts and more. We must continue to evaluate student needs and provide appropriate supports.

“Just looking at the statewide data doesn’t tell the full story. To really understand what’s working and what needs adjustment, we must disaggregate the results to dig into the district, charter and school building data including grade level and demographic results,” Holodick said. “That’s how we can determine which interventions are having impact and affecting outcomes.”

Much of the state’s focus of the past year has been on early literacy with the results showing some highlights in grade 3 ELA proficiency. For example, at Brandywine School District’s Harlan Elementary School, 27 percent of students were proficient in ELA this year, up from 6 percent in 2023. The 2024 scores surpass Harlan’s pre-pandemic scores (22 percent). Capital School District’s East Dover Elementary and Towne Point Elementary also saw gains as did Charter School of New Castle, Kuumba Academy Charter School and Woodbridge School District’s Phillis Wheatley Elementary School.

Harlan, East Dover, Towne Point and Kuumba all have partnered with DDOE to participate in targeted support for early literacy through the Accelerate Grant. Through this partnership they implemented high dosage tutoring while engaging in professional learning and coaching support for their leaders and literacy educators. East Dover and Towne Point also have been highly engaged in the Early Literacy Leadership Academy (ELLA) work bringing district and building leadership to the table for sessions. They have participated in the coaching sessions and were also part of a webinar sharing their work. They have also participated in  DDOE’s Reimagining Professional Learning grants, and they have worked to connect their efforts across every initiative in early literacy. Phillis Wheatley has remained focused on supporting educators to use the curricula they have adopted.

Another good story is being told in the Seaford School District, where third grade students with disabilities have been out-performing third-graders statewide for several years. For 2024, 46 percent of Seaford third-graders with disabilities scored proficient or above. That compares to 39 percent of third-graders statewide.

Seaford has remained consistent with its High Quality Instructional Material (HQIM) Tier 1 resources prior to, during and post-pandemic. The district also is diligent in its implementation of Seaford’s professional learning plan to increase the knowledge of current staff and onboard new staff. Seaford staff use Interim Assessment Block (IAB) data to look at trends in the data and pinpoints upcoming intersections of its curricula that they could be more intentional about during instruction.

“When DDOE staff visited classrooms over the past year, it was evident that Seaford continues to prioritize and streamline its literacy efforts. All students were receiving access to grade level instruction, and it wasn’t possible to tell the difference between general education students and students with disabilities,” Holodick said.

Seaford leaders pointed to several important factors to their students’ success as well:

1. Students have access to high quality Tier 1 instruction with appropriate accommodations.
2. Students receive these accommodations all year during instruction to help them meet grade level standards.
3. Students are placed with staff they feel comfortable with on testing days.  “You can’t underestimate the power of a positive relationship,” Seaford Director of Instruction Kirsten Jennette said.
4. IABs are used for practice throughout the year.
5. Educators constantly review all of a student’s data to determine what the student needs to be successful.

“We look at each student individually and not just at the label attached to the child,” Jennette said.

Download full results on the Delaware Open Data Portal.

The state also administers science and social studies assessments in some grades, an alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities and the ACCESS test for multi-language learner students. Those results will be published in the coming weeks.

Print