Educational Opportunity Disparities in Delaware, 1992–2019

PROJECT SYNOPSIS

For over a quarter century, Delaware has witnessed consistent, sizable educational opportunity disparities for students with low-income status, English-learner status (EL), or disability status and for students who are Black and Hispanic.

This brief uses average test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as measures of educational opportunity. Test scores reflect the educational opportunities to learn that are available to students in their schools and communities. While measuring student outcomes is an important strategy for holding schools and districts accountable for student success, we must understand that disparities in academic achievement reflect historical and current day structural inequities.

Acknowledging structural inequities helps ensure that achievement differences are not viewed as the result of individual student deficits and instead focuses attention on ensuring that systems are designed for all students to thrive.