CORRECTION: South Dover Elementary School’s Grade 3 ELA proficiency should not have been excluded from the calculation of state-supported literacy coaching results. The reconfiguration of that school did not affect Grade 3.  That paragraph has been corrected below.

 

Statewide results show modest improvement, with larger gains in schools receiving focused support; overall proficiency remains below where students need it to be

 

The Delaware Department of Education today released the first phase of its 2026 statewide assessment and accountability results. Today’s release focuses on proficiency, showing whether students are meeting grade-level expectations, and includes results for students in grades 3 through 8 and SAT School Day results for students in grade 11. It is the first of several releases that will build toward the full Delaware School Success Framework, or DSSF, results on October 15.

 

Schools receiving targeted state literacy support showed some of the strongest gains in the 2026 results. Most schools receiving state-supported literacy coaching improved Grade 3 English language arts proficiency from 2025 to 2026. Among the nine schools with state literacy coaches and comparable Grade 3 results, eight showed increases, averaging 5.4 percentage points, compared with a 1 percentage point statewide increase. A 10th school, Banneker Elementary in Milford School District, was reconfigured and now serves students only through Grade 1.

 

The largest gains among the eight schools were at Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Johnson Elementary and Las Americas ASPIRA Academy charter school, where Grade 3 English language arts proficiency increased by 12 percentage points, followed by Gateway Charter School with an 11-percentage point increase.

 

These results give the department and local leaders reason to examine the relationship among literacy coaching, instructional materials, school leadership, classroom practice and implementation, and to apply lessons from improving schools to strengthen literacy instruction across the state.

 

Across grades 3 through 8, statewide results also showed modest improvement, especially in mathematics. English language arts proficiency increased from 41 percent to 42 percent, and mathematics proficiency increased from 34 percent to 35 percent. Grades 3 through 8 mathematics has now improved for four consecutive years, increasing from 30 percent in 2022 to 35 percent in 2026.

 

Overall proficiency remains below where students need it to be, and progress is uneven across schools, subjects and student groups. Additional data will be released over the coming weeks to provide information about student growth, attendance, college and career readiness, graduation rates, multilingual learner progress, school quality indicators and school accountability. Together, these measures will build a fuller picture of school performance through the DSSF. They do not replace or diminish the proficiency results released today.

 

In high school, Delaware uses the SAT School Day assessment, generally administered in grade 11. In 2026, 44 percent of students scored proficient or above in evidence-based reading and writing, compared with 47 percent in 2025. SAT essay proficiency increased to 43 percent, up 10 percentage points from last year.

 

High school mathematics remains one of Delaware’s clearest areas of concern. SAT mathematics proficiency remained at 18 percent for the third consecutive year, underscoring the need for stronger alignment among middle school mathematics, Algebra I, high school coursework and postsecondary expectations.

 

This year’s results also make clear where Delaware must accelerate improvement. Statewide proficiency remains below the goals in the department’s strategic plan. Grade 3 English language arts increased from 39 percent to 40 percent, compared with the state’s 2028 target of 53 percent. Grade 8 mathematics increased from 27 percent to 29 percent, compared with a 2028 target of 35 percent. And achievement gaps among student groups remain significant.

 

Delaware is also reviewing the future of its statewide high school assessment. With funding provided by the General Assembly, the department will work with educators and district leaders to explore a high school assessment approach that better aligns with Delaware’s academic standards, high school coursework, student pathways, opportunities to measure growth, and state and federal accountability requirements. The review is intended to strengthen the alignment and usefulness of Delaware’s high school assessment while maintaining transparent reporting of student performance.

 

“Statewide assessments are important because they tell us whether students are meeting grade-level expectations,” Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said. “This year’s results show modest movement, especially in grades 3 through 8 mathematics, but they also make clear that too many students are not where they need to be. A one-percentage point statewide increase is not the win. The more important question is what we learn from schools where students are moving faster and what we change where students are not making enough progress. Proficiency is an important part of the picture. Growth, attendance, graduation, multilingual learner progress and other measures will help us understand the broader accountability story, but they do not minimize the proficiency results released today.”

 

Across Delaware, assessment results help identify schools showing stronger outcomes and examine practices associated with improvement. Schools showing improvement point to several practices that deserve closer examination:

• Sustained implementation over time.
• Strong school leadership.
• Ongoing coaching and professional learning for educators.
• High-quality instructional materials.
• Regular use of student data to guide instruction and intervention.

The results include examples of schools and districts demonstrating different patterns of performance and improvement. Some stand out for consistently strong performance across subjects and student groups. Others show meaningful improvement over time or encouraging gains in high-need settings. School examples illustrate where improvement is occurring and where the department and local leaders should examine what changed in instruction, leadership, support and implementation. They are not evidence of statewide success.

 

Cape Henlopen, Appoquinimink and Caesar Rodney were among the strongest and most consistent district performers across subjects and student groups for the grades 3 through 8 assessments, while Milford and Christina showed strong combined gains in one year.

 

Milford’s districtwide proficiency increased 4 percentage points in English language arts and 3 percentage points in mathematics. Christina increased 2 percentage points in both subjects.

Providence Creek Academy and MOT Charter School were among the strongest-performing charter schools across both English language arts and mathematics, with student achievement statistically above the state average in both subjects. Providence Creek Academy also showed notable year-over-year improvement, combining strong overall performance with continued gains in student proficiency.

 

Christina School District: Encouraging gains

Christina School District showed encouraging signs of improvement in 2026, increasing districtwide proficiency by 2 percentage points in both English language arts and mathematics. Several elementary schools posted particularly strong gains, including Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, which increased English language arts proficiency by 11 percentage points and mathematics proficiency by 12.4 percentage points, and Brookside Elementary School, which increased English language arts proficiency by nearly 10 percentage points and mathematics proficiency by 11.2 percentage points.

 

These results will prompt school and district leaders to examine where leadership, instructional focus, coaching, high-quality instructional materials and classroom practice are aligning with stronger student outcomes, and to apply those lessons more broadly.

 

Richey Elementary School: Intentional school improvement

 

Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Richey Elementary School posted significant improvement in both subjects, increasing English language arts proficiency by 12.1 percentage points and mathematics proficiency by 13.9 percentage points.

 

Richey’s gains occurred alongside a sustained school focus on teaching and learning, including strong school leadership, targeted educator support, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support implementation and consistent attention to instruction. The school’s gains should be studied alongside the practices accompanying significant improvement.

 

Lake Forest High School: Sustained improvement over time

Lake Forest School District’s Lake Forest High School has shown sustained improvement over multiple years on the SAT School Day assessment. SAT evidence-based reading and writing proficiency increased from 32 percent in 2024 to 41 percent in 2025 and 44 percent in 2026. SAT mathematics proficiency increased from 13 percent in 2024 to 17 percent in 2025 and 19 percent in 2026. The school’s results should be studied alongside the sustained focus on instruction, student support and continuous improvement accompanying those gains.

 

“Our responsibility is not simply to publish data,” Marten said. “Our responsibility is to understand what the data are telling us and act on it. Where students are improving, we need to learn from those schools and expand what is working. Where students are not making enough progress, we need to strengthen support, improve implementation and hold ourselves accountable for better results. These assessment results are the beginning of that conversation, not the end.”

 

As Delaware builds toward the full DSSF results, the department is also working with districts, charter schools and other stakeholders to strengthen how the state supports schools and responds to different levels of need. That work will focus on creating a clearer, more differentiated approach to support, monitoring, and accountability, particularly when low performance persists over time. Any changes will be developed with stakeholder input and communicated well in advance of implementation.

 

Understanding proficiency and growth

Proficiency shows whether students met grade-level expectations this year. Growth shows how much students progressed academically over time, including students who have not yet reached proficiency. Both measures are important when evaluating how well schools are helping students learn.

 

Because growth follows student performance over time and requires additional validation, Delaware will release 2026 student growth results on September 15 as the next phase of its accountability reporting.

 

Statewide releases include:

• Today, August 18: Student proficiency results
• September 15: Student growth results
• September 22: School Quality and Student Success indicators, including on-track attendance for K-12, science proficiency in grades 5 and 8 and Biology, social studies proficiency in grades 4, 7 and 11, college and career preparedness for grades 9-12, and on-track in Grade 9
• September 29: Multilingual learner progress and graduation rates
• October 15: Delaware School Success Framework results

Many families have received their students’ individual assessment results, and families can access score reports through their Infinite Campus accounts. School and district assessment results are available through the Delaware Open Data Portal.

 

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006

New teaching strategies are driving gains in some Delaware schools, particularly in literacy instruction. Yet the latest student assessment performance test results show that there is still much work to do across reading, writing, and mathematics.

Across all three counties, English proficiency in grades 3-8 rose to 41% (up 1 point from 2024), and math to 34% (up 1 point). SAT reading proficiency among 11th graders climbed to 47% (up 2 points), while math held at 18%. Notable bright spots include New Castle Elementary in Colonial School District and the Cape Henlopen School District, where investments in high-quality instructional materials, LETRS training, and strong professional learning communities have fueled steady gains. Multilingual learners in Cape scored 21% proficient in ELA (state average: 15%), and low-income students scored 26% proficient in math (state average: 17%).

“No one should be satisfied with these scores,” said Secretary of Education Cindy Marten. “But where educators have the right tools and training, students are making real progress. We will keep scaling those strategies statewide until every child can read, write, and calculate at grade level.”

Since taking office in January 2025, the Meyer Administration and the Department of Education have prioritized a series of significant reforms in response to the literacy emergency. Targeted investments to support instruction are central to the effort. This includes developing professional learning communities for educators, year-long educator residencies, new professional development opportunities, strategic staffing models, early talent development initiatives, and improved recruitment efforts.

“These scores must improve,” said Governor Matt Meyer. “As our administration’s investments begin to reach classrooms this school year, every student must receive a world-class education, and every educator must have the tools to deliver the educational outcomes every Delaware family deserves.”

This school year, the state will be providing teachers with the opportunity to select literacy supports for their students and will be launching Bridge to Practice Grants, which further support district/charter efforts to build systems for literacy as well as strategic staffing models that create opportunities for increased collaboration and student achievement. This is along with an $8 million direct investment in expanding early literacy supports contained within the FY2026 state budget.

The complete 2024-2025 standardized testing results are available on the Delaware Open Data Portal.

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.

 

Statewide assessment results for the 2021-22 school year reinforce the continuing need to provide additional supports and learning time to students in response to COVID-19 school building closures.

For English language arts, 42 percent of students in grades 3-8 scored at or above their grade’s proficiency level. In mathematics, 30 percent of students in grades 3-8 scored at or above their grade’s proficiency level. Although the percentage of students who scored proficient is higher than in 2020-21, making a direct comparison is not appropriate because of lower participation rates in 2020-21 due to COVID-19.

“Providing educational opportunities this summer has been a priority because we know students are continuing to recover from pandemic-related unfinished learning,” Secretary of Education Mark Holodick said. “Recovery doesn’t happen overnight, and our educators are committed to continuing to meet students where they are to provide them the supports and learning time they need to succeed.  Federal Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief funds (ESSER II and ESSER III) will allow for our schools and districts to use targeted interventions and institute system changes that address the needs of all students, especially those kids who need it most.”

For high school statewide assessment, Delaware uses the SAT, administered during the school day, generally in students’ 11^th grade year. In 2022, Delaware moved from a paper and pencil exam to an online assessment (grade 3-8 assessments previously were online). Statewide, 47 percent of students scored proficient or higher in the reading test, 24 percent in math and 38 percent on the essay portion.

In science, Delaware tests in grades 5, 8 and high school biology. The 2021-22 scores show 21 percent of fifth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 26 percent of high school biology students scoring proficient or higher.

Social studies is assessed in grades 4, 7 and 11. Statewide for 2021-22, 32 percent of fourth graders, 29 percent of seventh graders and 24 percent of 11^th graders scored at or above the proficient level.

Delaware administers an alternative assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The state moved to a new assessment model in 2022. Find more information on this assessment as well as the ACCESS English language proficiency assessment here.

Families received their student reports in the mail last month, providing valuable information on their children’s learning progress. Educators received the results a few weeks after the students tested.

 “These assessment results help everyone from the classroom educator to policymakers better understand student learning and needs, and they will provide important guidance to us as we plan how to best support our students in the new school year,” Holodick said.

Find full results, including demographic and district/charter information, here.

The Delaware Department of Education today released statewide assessment results for the 2020-21 school year, cautioning that due to low participation rates the results do not allow for comparison to previous test administrations.

 

“The 2020-21 school year was different from any other since many of our students were learning remotely for part or all of the academic year. Although assessment opportunities were available to all students, we saw significantly fewer students take the assessment,” Secretary of Education Susan Bunting said. “While direct comparisons with assessment data from previous years may not be appropriate because of this, the data provides an important temperature check that allows our schools to better track and address both short- and long-term learning needs.”

 

Although the U.S. Department of Education waived student assessment requirements in the 2019-2020 academic year due to COVID-19 school building closures that spring, Delaware was required to administer all tests for the 2020-21 academic year.

 

Statewide, participation was at 60 percent for the state’s English language arts and mathematics assessments for grades 3-8 while about 71 percent of eligible students took the SAT, the state’s high school federal accountability test. For the state’s social studies and science exams, 49 percent of eligible students participated. The state also administers an alternative assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The overall participation was 58 percent on the alt assessment.

 

For those students who did participate, 41 percent scored at the proficiency level on the 3-8 ELA test while 26 percent did so in mathematics. On the SAT, 49 percent scored at proficient on evidenced-based reading and writing with 28 percent doing so on the math portion of the test and 44 percent on the essay section. Proficiency on the science assessment was 24 percent and 30 percent on the social studies assessment. For the alt assessment, the proficiency rates were 26 percent for ELA, 21 percent for math and 13 percent for science.

 

Families received their student reports in the mail last month, providing valuable information on their children’s learning progress. Educators received the results a few weeks after the students tested.

 

“Educators and school-based staff have faced and risen to meet unprecedented challenges in the past year. The assessment results will be used to help all of us educators better understand the needs of our students so we can more effectively support them,” Bunting said.

 

Find full results, including demographic and district/charter information, here.

 

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006