Two-thirds of Delaware grads not college ready

  (AP Photo/The College Board, George Lange)

(AP Photo/The College Board, George Lange)

The majority of Delaware’s high school seniors are not prepared for college or a career, based on their SAT results. 

The College Board released Delaware’s class of 2013 SAT results today. The College Board administers the SAT, and considers a combined score of 1550, out of 2400, its college and career readiness benchmark. Here in Delaware, only 27 percent of high school students, public and private, graduating this year met the benchmark.

Across the country, 43 percent of graduating seniors scored at least 1550 on the standardized test. However, the College Board warns comparing Delaware with other states is difficult since Delaware is among the few states in which every student takes the SAT. Consequently, the larger the pool, the more SAT scores tend to decline. 

“It is inappropriate to rank… because the percentage of graduates taking the SAT varies widely across states,” the College Board noted in its report. 

  • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

“Delaware doesn’t need to compare itself to any other state to recognize its problem,” Education Secretary Mark Murphy said. “The majority of our students, particularly those from underrepresented demographic groups, are not graduating from our schools with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. The onus to correct that is on us.” 

Murphy says implementing the Common Core State Standards in every public school classroom is the first step towards better preparing students for college and the real world. The standards establish skills targets for each grade. 

“Thanks to the standards, we know where we want children to be at the end of each grade and local educators have the flexibility to decide on the best path to get there,” Murphy said.

College Board partnership

As part of a new partnership between the state and the College Board, announced last week, high schoolers who do score well on the SAT will receive personalized information packets encouraging them to apply to a broader range of colleges. Application fee waivers will also be included, provided the students qualify. 

Delaware is the first state to team up with the College Board on this initiative. 

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal