Anderson: ‘All is not lost’ for Delaware students

The biggest scandal in the state of Delaware is the fact that few seem to care about the collapse of our education achievement.

In 2022, only 22% of fourth grade students met grade-level expectations on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — the nation’s report card. Only 23% of 11th graders made the standard on the SATs. The state is in the top tier of spending per student. We moved from 15th to 10th since 2018. Unfortunately, Delaware student scores dropped from 28th to 49th between 2013-22. Delaware and Florida were roughly equal, with Delaware at 28th and Florida at 30th. Now, Florida is No. 1, and we are next to last among the 50 states. I would consider this a crisis and one of my top three goals to fix, as the majority of Delaware children are below grade level in all of the basic skills — reading, math and writing.

It’s horrible that we are not meeting national standards, but it is even worse that only 2 of 5 students are meeting our own state standards. Achievement has fallen this entire administration, but it went into freefall with our failed COVID-19 strategy. Instead of buying into a proven online public school, we just went ad hoc. The students most neglected were special needs and those without decent internet. We have gone from bad to worse to nearly worst.

All is not lost. If we have both the will and leadership to fix it, we can. An obvious start would be to look at what Florida did and take the best of it. Florida has some of the highest achievement in all categories, including Hispanic and Black academic achievement. If you want to fight racism, you don’t cater to criminals; you give quality education to children, and workforce and business development to adults.

When I was on a charter school’s board of directors, we dealt with only 1 in 4 students meeting the standards, and within two years, it was 3 in 4 students. We went from being threatened with closure to receiving national awards, with a school that was 90% minority and most of the students receiving free lunch. We had amazing results with Singapore Math and hiring reading specialists who used phonics. The school emphasized a secure and disciplined environment, adding cameras to the hallways and classrooms. When students feel safe at school, have the curriculum that works and isn’t “woke,” and are engaged with proven practices, they learn. We gave the teachers the tools that they needed and let them teach. We engaged and respected parents. Let’s start there as a state.

The city of Dover has nothing to do with education, yet the crisis is so stark that we authorized American Rescue Plan Act funds for after-school tutoring. If your children need help, ask your school about the options to help them catch up. Help is available through tutoring@readingassist.org. We can’t wait for the state.

Councilman David Anderson

Dover