Central to our mission is our commitment to closing the achievement gap for all of our students. The achievement gap has historically impacted two groups – students who are poor and students who are non-Asian minorities. According to the Learning Points Associates article Achievement Gaps", there are two types of achievement gaps:

1.        Social Gap: The difference in academic performance between wealthier and more economically deprived students.

2.         Racial Gap: The difference in academic performance between whites and non-Asian minorities.

Of the 7,467 elementary school-aged children that Red Clay serves ¹², close to one half are from low-income families (43%), and an almost equal percentage of students are white (49%) and minority (50%). Currently, achievement gaps exist within individual schools (comparisons of achievement across subgroups within the same school) and between schools (comparisons of achievement across subgroups amongst different schools).

The achievement gap begins in elementary school and its impact is long lasting, therefore a college preparatory program based on rigorous academic preparation is needed early. Delaware College Prep is designed to eliminate the achievement gap for Red Clay's most challenged students so that all children have an equal educational footing upon completion of their primary education.

The Red Clay School District has a number of top performing elementary schools that serve as models of student achievement. Among these are North Star Elementary, Brandywine Springs Elementary and Linden Hills Elementary schools, all three of which boast reading and math proficiency levels of 92% or higher on the most recent DSTP exams. Of the remaining eleven elementary schools, four additional schools demonstrated reading or math proficiency levels above 75%. The three lowest performing schools in reading proficiency include Shortlidge Elementary, Warner Elementary, and Anna P. Mote (Mote) Elementary. Thirty five percent (35%) or more of students who attend these schools are unable to read with proficiency. It is precisely this achievement gap that we seek to address