Press Release
February 11, 2025
Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342
Delaware Ranked 49th Among States in Math Recovery and 47th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024
Not a single district in Delaware has returned to its 2019 levels in either math or reading.
The loss in achievement in Delaware is greater than 80 percent of the progress students typically make annually between 4th and 8th grade.
(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.
The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Delaware students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Delaware. Here’s what we found:
- Delaware ranked 49th among states in terms of recovery in math and 47th in reading between 2019 and 2024, but this doesn’t tell the whole story—between 2022 and 2024, Delaware’s recovery in math was second in the nation, behind only Washington, D.C.
- Still, not a single district in Delaware has returned to its 2019 levels in either math or reading. Across the state, students remain behind by an average of over four-fifths of a grade level in math (.86 grade equivalents) after losing an initial 1.25 grade levels between 2019 and 2022. In reading, despite recovery ranking 17th in the nation between 2022-2024, students have not recovered any ground, remaining behind by over four-fifths of a grade level (.84 grade equivalents) after losing just over an additional tenth of a grade level (.11 grade equivalents) between 2022-2024. In other words, the loss in achievement in Delaware is greater than 80 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
- The average student in some districts, such as Smyrna, Caesar Rodney, Indian River, Lake Forest, Milford, Laurel, and Capital remains more than a grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in both math and reading.
- Reading is more of a concern in Delaware than math; though not a single district has recovered to 2019 levels in either subject, math scores show some recovery, while reading scores do not. Nationally, 85 percent of students are in districts below 2019 levels in math, with only 15 percent above. Similarly, 89 percent of students are in districts below 2019 levels in reading, with only 11 percent above.
- Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in Woodbridge is approaching 2019 levels in reading.
- A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 15% percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 26% percent in 2022 (down to 23% in 2023) is slowing the recovery in many districts in Delaware.
- Delaware received $637 million in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $4,600 per student (which is more than the national average of $3,700 per student). Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.
The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Delaware schools. Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning. State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.
One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane from Harvard, said: “Unless state and local leaders step up now, the achievement losses will be the longest lasting– and most inequitable– legacy of the pandemic.”
For the national press release and findings click here.
About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.
Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342