Delaware’s latest student assessment performance results reveal another year of largely stagnant reading and math proficiency rates statewide.
Across all three counties, English and math proficiency in grades 3-8 rose 1% according to 2025 assessment dating, placing proficiency rates at 41% and 34% in each subject respectively.
Four school districts performed better than the state average in reading and math, including Cape Henlopen, Appoquinimink, Caesar Rodney and Brandywine.
Six charter schools performed better than the state average in both subjects, including Newark Charter, MOT, Sussex Academy, Providence Creek Academy and Odyssey Charter School.
SAT reading proficiency bumped up 2% to put Delaware 11th graders at a comprehension rate of 47% while math proficiency held steady at 18%. SAT Essay proficiency dropped from 37% to 33%.
The figures tell the same story as 2024's statewide assessment, which also reported low single-digit increases and decreases in proficiency rates across the board.
“No one should be satisfied with these scores,” Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said in a statement. “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.”
“Our union is in complete agreement with Secretary Marten when she says students make real progress when educators have the right tools and training,” said Stephanie Ingram, president of the Delaware State Education Association, the labor union that represents more than 14,000 current and retired educators throughout the First State.
“That’s why our union has fought so hard to protect the federal, state and local education funding needed to fairly and equitably deliver those resources to every classroom in every school,” she said. “And it’s why we will continue to push for a new education funding formula that provides the greatest support to students with the greatest need, regardless of their background or zip code.”
Ingram's comments follow a recent one-day special session called by the Delaware General Assembly, where lawmakers considered altering school districts' ability to raise revenue by up to 10% following property reassessments, but that measure ultimately did not pass.
The Public Education Funding Commission has recently resumed work on crafting recommendations for a new funding formula in Delaware to ensure better funding equity statewide.
Gov. Matt Meyer also agrees with Sec. Marten and pledges to continue his campaign promise of improving Delaware’s public education system.
“It's terrible. We have a lot of work to do. Every Delaware family needs to know they're sending their child to get a quality education in Delaware public schools," the governor told Delaware Public Media. “There are a lot of people working very hard to educate our kids — I have the utmost respect for them — we have a lot more work to do.”
One of the main proficiency indicators, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, were released in January, — which prompted Gov. Meyer to declare a statewide literacy emergency — but additional data on 8th grade science and 12th grade math and reading are expected in early September.
Top school district and charter proficiency ratings breakdown
English
Districts: Cape Henlopen (58%), Appoquinimink (52%), Caesar Rodney (48%) and Brandywine (45%) performed statistically better than the overall state average (41%) in ELA across grades 3-8.
Charters: Newark Charter (76%), Sussex Academy (70%), MOT (68%), First State Montessori (64%), Providence Creek Academy (54%) and Odyssey Charter School (47%) performed statistically better than the overall state average (41%) in ELA across grades 3-8.
English language learners (ELL): Appoquinimink (22%), Cape Henlopen (21%), Seaford (19%), and Brandywine (19%) showed statistically higher proficiency than the statewide ELL average for ELA (15%).
Low-Income: Cape Henlopen (37%), Seaford (34%), Indian River (31%), Appoquinimink (29%) and Caesar Rodney (28%) showed statistically higher proficiency than the 24% low-income state mean for ELA.
Math
Districts: Cape Henlopen (52%), Appoquinimink (45%), Indian River (38%), Caesar Rodney (38%), and Brandywine (37%) performed statistically better than the overall state average (34%) in math across grades 3-8.
Charters: Newark Charter (71%), MOT (65%), Sussex Academy (55%), Providence Creek (43%), First State Montessori (42%), and Odyssey Charter School (42%) performed statistically better than the overall state average (34%) in math across grades 3-8.
ELL: Appoquinimink (28%), Cape Henlopen (25%), Brandywine (22%), Seaford (20%) showed statistically higher proficiency than the statewide ELL average for math (15%).
Low-Income: Seaford (31%), Cape Henlopen (26%), Indian River (26%), and Appoquinimink (22%) showed statistically higher proficiency than the 17% low-income state mean for math.
Students with disabilities (SWD): Seaford (21%), Cape Henlopen (17%), and Caesar Rodney (14%) showed statistically higher proficiency than the 10% SWD state mean for math.
