Statewide test results 2023: Comparing top performances across Delaware school districts

Kelly Powers, USA TODAY NETWORK
Updated ·5 min read

There’s more work to be done.

That is one takeaway Delaware Department of Education may draw from statewide assessment results released this week. New scores continued to show the struggle for students to regain pandemic lost ground, as average proficiency across all subjects trailed that of 2019, and strained to boost consistently past last year’s results.

Overall, if 2021-22 provided the first “baseline” for pandemic recovery — as described this time last year — 2023 now allows Delaware to see a long road ahead for new progress. And although results continue to show a mixed bag in pandemic recovery, some districts clearly outperformed others.

So looking more locally, here's a brief breakdown of how the state’s public school districts are stacking up across subject areas in these latest scores.

State assessments are just one measure of student progress, having been rattled during pandemic shutdown. Though students are all individuals, such data can inform decision-making to come, as the Education Department has noted. This year's full data set for each assessment is available on the state's data website.

Statewide look: Latest Delaware test scores show students’ continued struggle to bounce back since COVID

What came within Delaware's math and English scores?

Some state residents think students are subjected to too much standardized testing.
Some state residents think students are subjected to too much standardized testing.

Third- through eighth-graders are tested in the First State in mathematics and English language arts.

Statewide, the average English language arts proficiency across public and charter schools was 40% for 2023, just a 2-percentage-point drop from 2022 and still over a dozen points behind pre-pandemic. Math earned 32% proficiency across Delaware students, up 2 points from last year. This trudges behind 44% in 2019.

Districts, schools and the Department of Education siphon through much more specific data, from analyzing performance among individual schools, progress of grade-by-grade, scores among diverse subgroups and more. But these lists just focus on what percentage of all students tested in a particular district scored at or above their grade’s proficiency level.

The highest score showed just over half of students reaching that threshold.

Seven districts performed above the statewide average for math proficiency, with Cape Henlopen, Appoquinimink and Indian River leading the charge. The largest disparity clocks in at roughly 36 percentage points, with Colonial scores trailing that of Cape.

Top 10 district performances in math on Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium

  1. Cape Henlopen School District — 52.1%

  2. Appoquinimink School District — 42.6%

  3. Indian River School District — 36.7%

  4. Brandywine School District — 33.6%

  5. Smyrna School District — 32.9%

  6. Lake Forest School District — 32.8%

  7. Caesar Rodney School District — 32.6%

  8. Red Clay Consolidated School District —31.9%

  9. Seaford School District — 30.6%

  10. Woodbridge School District — 29.16%

English language arts didn't see the same boosts from last year, but all but two of the top 10 districts in proficiency saw percentages higher than the state average of 40%. Again, Cape Henlopen, Appoquinimink and Indian River managed to lead by slim margins.

Top 10 district performances in ELA on Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium

  1. Cape Henlopen School District — 54.7%

  2. Appoquinimink School District — 47.9%

  3. Indian River School District — 44%

  4. Lake Forest School District — 43.2%

  5. Caesar Rodney School District — 42.4%

  6. Seaford School District — 40.9%

  7. Red Clay Consolidated School District — 40.3% (tie)

  8. Delmar School District — 40.3%

  9. Brandywine School District — 39.5%

  10. Smyrna School District — 38.9%

Once more, the highest proficiency scores came in around half the tested students. The highest performer was still nearly double that of the same lowest-performing district in English language arts.

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What about science and social studies in Delaware?

Some parents would prefer to opt out of standardized testing for their children.
Some parents would prefer to opt out of standardized testing for their children.

Delaware tests students in fifth and eighth grade, as well as high school biology, to capture science scores.

About 1 in 5 students tested were at or above proficient in science on average across Delaware, nearly steady with last year, though high schoolers dropped by 4 points. And in social studies, 26% of Delaware's tested 11th-graders were proficient this year, up 2 points, with additional eighth-grade results yet to come.

Overall, districts had lower proficiencies in science compared with math and English. But Appoquinimink, Cape Henlopen and the Sussex Technical school districts led the pack.

Top 10 district performances in science on DeSSA

  1. Appoquinimink School District — 33.7%

  2. Cape Henlopen School District — 33%

  3. Sussex Technical School District — 29.1%

  4. Caesar Rodney School District — 27.6%

  5. POLYTECH School District — 26%

  6. Red Clay Consolidated School District — 22.9%

  7. Delmar School District — 22.5%

  8. Brandywine School District — 21.14%

  9. Lake Forest School District — 18.4%

  10. Woodbridge School District — 18.1%

In social studies, about 26% of 11th-graders tested were proficient this year across the state. Eighth grade results for the state’s new social studies assessment will be released next month, according to the Department of Education.

Delmar, Red Clay and Lake Forest posted the highest percentages, each above that statewide average. Proving similarly challenging to that of science, the lowest proficiency came in at nearly 11% in Seaford schools.

Top 10 district performances in social studies on DeSSA

  1. Delmar School District — 36%

  2. Red Clay Consolidated School District — 35.5%

  3. Lake Forest School District — 31.4%

  4. Cape Henlopen School District — 31.3%

  5. Brandywine School District — 30.5%

  6. POLYTECH School District — 30.3%

  7. Appoquinimink School District — 29.1%

  8. Caesar Rodney School District — 28%

  9. Sussex Technical School District — 27.2%

  10. Smyrna School District — 21.9%

Delaware administers an alternative assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

The state also uses the SATs for a statewide assessment of high schoolers. Overall, 44% of students scored proficient or higher on the reading test, 23% in math and 42% on the essay portion. That's a drop of 3 and 1 points for reading and math, with a 4-percentage-point bump for the essay test.

Full data sets remain available on the state's data website, and families should have received their students' reports last month by mail.

Have a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for the USA TODAY Network's Northeast Region and Delaware Online, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Compare top state test results across your Delaware school districts