Testing is only one measure at one point in time. It captures what a handful of students know in relation to a handful of their peers in other states. By definition, testing is a limited measure of progress that does not account for holistic, qualitative measures of learning.
But testing also tells us part of our story: how our students perform compared to students in the states around us that often compete for talent and resources.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), about 31% of our 8th graders can read on level, and 29% can perform math on level. To note, even the top state in the country when it comes to educating students, Massachusetts sits at about a 50% proficiency in reading and math. Half the kids in Massachusetts do not read or perform math on grade level.
We look at these numbers and ask ourselves — is this as good as it gets here in Delaware? These numbers are real people with limitless potential. Imagine our civic, social, and economic environment if 75% or 100% of our students perform on level?
Today, 18,000 parents who work in Delaware live in Pennsylvania to attend Pennsylvania public schools instead of Delaware public schools.
This does not have to be true in the future, especially now as we manage the COVID-19 crisis and demand for social justice. Where we stand is a starting point of urgency, not an endpoint of blame.
Progress is our choice.
Let’s be honest about where we are so that we can do the hard work of what is possible.
We will not get results by tweaking our existing system within bureaucratic inertia. We must reinvent it entirely with a laser focus on learning to potential—where every decision we make is in the interest of students and their futures.
