The 2024 statewide student assessment results show largely stagnant outcomes in overall student proficiency, hovering around single-digit increases and decreases in math and reading if not no change at all from last year’s data.
For grades 3-8, 40% of students scored at or above their grade’s proficiency level this year — the same as last year — while math proficiency increased by one percentage point from 32% to 33%.
High school SAT results show 45% of students scored proficient or higher on the reading test — a 1% increase from last year — but math proficiency dropped 5%, leaving only 18% of high school students proficient in mathematics.
“The stagnant results are concerning for sure. With that said, we know that the strategies that we are using are going to show themselves in different ways in terms of being successful," Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick said.
He says intervention methods the state has already implemented may manifest in other datasets, like attendance rates and student’s connections to their school environment.
"I wouldn't use one assessment to determine whether or not many of the strategies that districts have put into place are working or not based on this data alone. I think it's certainly part of the puzzle in trying to determine exactly where we shift resources based on end of the year data, not just with this particular assessment, which is primarily [Smarter Balanced] and SAT, but you know, other data points that really inform our thinking and planning," he added.
Holodick notes the state has already made big changes in preparation for the 2025 school year, including $63 million in opportunity funding for low-income and English language learners, as well as legislation to add mental health professionals to schools.
He says while recruiting and retaining those positions may be easier said than done, he believes schools have more resources than they have ever had, also highlighting recently allocated funding for statewide literacy coaches — those professionals will be arriving this fall.
"I think we will see impact this year. I don't know exactly what it will look like in regard to student achievement data, but I think there will be impact in terms of how they are supporting teachers and [professional learning communities] around the science of reading," Holodick said. "For sure, I think we need to be realistic that it's, you know, placing the literacy coaches across the entire state. It's going to need to be a model that sort of builds upon itself, right?"
He says there is concern that high school students affected by pandemic learning loss will graduate with below-average proficiency expectations, but says he is pushing for extra remedial efforts.
“Anything that we can do for all of our students, whether they're elementary, middle or high school, in terms of extended learning opportunities, makes absolute sense.”
Holodick says he has been encouraging all school districts and charter schools to not only implement strong academic after school and summer programming, but to also bolster extra curricular activities.
"We know when students are struggling socially and emotionally, they typically struggle academically, right? And so if we can get students involved in the music, the arts, including drama, athletics— anything that really engages students and has them around other peers, that helps them establish positive relationships their peers and trustworthy adults that are positive role models — those are all things that we know work. They're research based, but they're also steeped in just good, common sense."
He says it is now up to school leadership teams to plan how they will approach the 2025 school year to help turn these results around, and it will be a matter of using available resources more strategically to boost proficiency levels in the coming years.
