I read the article on public school tests results, and one would have to be blind not to be proud of the results of our school district – school testing and grading be damned. As an old man, I often have trouble following numbers and words through multiple sentences, so I took the liberty to put the numbers into a table where I could more easily see the results, as shown below.
Elementary school proficiency
| Test group | Grade | Math | English/Language Arts |
| State | 3 | 32% | 38% |
| Cape | 3 | 62% | 53% |
| State | 4 | 39% | 40% |
| Cape | 4 | 57% | 56% |
| State | 5 | 32% | 44% |
| Cape | 5 | 50% | 56% |
High school SAT proficiency
| Test group | Reading | Math | Essay |
| State | 44% | 23% | 42% |
| Cape | 59% | 32% | 52% |
I organized the above test results because education is obviously quite important and continues to receive much-needed attention. From my own experience, quality of education, or lack thereof, is often not the result of a single factor, but rather multiple interactions, many of which are often not cited.
With that thought, I must, again, commend our local district for their courage, knowledge and, yes, education in navigating the difficult years of 2020-22 for students, which included two of my grandchildren. I have also read of the tentative plans for expansion, yet again, of the physical facilities of the district. I do not claim to understand which of the plan A or plan B, or I suspect unmentioned other alternative plans, is appropriate, but I do encourage us all to recognize and appreciate the efforts and results of our district and do all we can to encourage further growth of our most important resource, our children and their education. From enrollment numbers I hear, it is not just us old folks moving here, but also many young families with school-aged children.
I know I learned a great deal from some folks with little or no formal education but who were smart because they learned from their experiences and put such usage to the real test – the world and how it operates. Even after many, many years as a college student (10 to be exact) and after many years teaching at Delaware Tech, I do not understand all there is to know about teaching, taking tests, writing, grading and much less interpreting test results. However, grading and interpretation of test results must be done even if one does not like the results. I finally learned the most valuable asset of that testing was to take what was learned, attempt to apply it as is best possible, to keep learning and to realize that you never know enough and must keep learning or you likely did not receive much of an education.
Congratulations and best wishes to all the people, past and present, who have made the Cape Henlopen School District what it is today. Also, a note of congratulations should be made to the Indian River School District (from which my three children were graduated) and the Concord School District.
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