Some Delaware education advocates say they’re disappointed in the recent standardized test scores.
The percentages of public school students across the state proficient in English and math stayed largely unchanged from last year - with 54 percent proficient in English and 44 percent proficient in math.
Christina School District scores were also mostly unchanged from last year - 34 percent proficiency in math and 40 percent in English.
And low-performing Wilmington schools failed to make many gains either. Less than 6 percent of students at Stubbs and Bayard Elementary schools are proficient in math and less than 10 percent in English. About 15 percent of students at Bancroft Middle School rated proficient in math and 19 percent proficient in English.
Christina School Board member John Young said the results show state standards and accountability testing are not helping students learn.
“When do we look inside ourselves and say ‘You know what, these Common Core state standards and the testing we use to determine if we’re getting better are consistently showing one thing. We’re not,’” he said.
Atnre Alleyne with DelawareCAN says while the Delaware Department of Education touts the results as “steady,” what they really show is a lack of progress - with the same groups of students being underserved year after year.
“We’re in a place right now where you know we don’t want to call things what they are," he said. "And I think that’s what people were frustrated about by the results. When you say that things are steady as if that’s something we should be comfortable with.”
Alleyne also said Delaware needs to change its school funding formula to provide additional money for low income students and English Language Learners.
