Best Public Schools in Hartly, DE

Hartly, Delaware is served by a single public elementary school, Hartly Elementary School, which is part of the Capital School District and enrolls 240 students in grades K-4.

For parents, the most important takeaway is that Hartly Elementary School is a small school that consistently outperforms its district across nearly every subject and grade level, despite being ranked in the middle of the state overall. The school’s greatest strength is early literacy: 3rd-grade ELA proficiency is 54%, which is more than double the district average of 26.5% and well above the state average of 40.1%. Social studies is another standout area, with 5th-grade proficiency at 73.8% compared to 45% for the district and 61.9% for the state. The school also maintains a favorable 11:1 student-to-teacher ratio and a low chronic absenteeism rate of 15.9%, which is 10 percentage points better than the district average of 26.1%. These factors suggest a supportive environment where students receive strong individual attention.

However, there are clear areas of concern. Math proficiency declines sharply as students advance: 3rd grade is at 48% (above state), but 4th grade drops to 30% and 5th grade falls to just 14.3%—less than half the state average of 34.9%. Science performance is also weak at 16.7% proficiency in 5th grade. The school’s overall state ranking has improved over three years, moving from 55th to 38th, and 3rd-grade ELA jumped 13.5 points year-over-year, indicating positive momentum. Yet the upper-grade STEM struggles suggest that while early literacy and social studies are thriving, targeted intervention is needed in math and science to ensure students don’t lose ground as they progress. Overall, this is a school that excels in foundational skills and social studies but faces challenges in upper-grade STEM subjects.