Summary:
Zip code 19804 in Wilmington, Delaware, is home to just one middle school, Stanton Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 558 students within the Red Clay Consolidated School District.
Stanton Middle School is the only option for families in this area, and its academic performance is a major concern. The school has ranked in the bottom 10% of Delaware middle schools for three consecutive years, earning zero stars each time. Test scores are dramatically below both district and state averages across every subject and grade level, often by 20 to 30 percentage points. For example, only 5.5% of 7th graders are proficient in math, and just 3.1% of 8th graders are proficient in science. Even in its strongest subject, social studies, proficiency rates range from 15% to 33%, still far below the state average. Year-over-year trends are mixed, with some grades improving in ELA and social studies, but 7th grade saw sharp declines in both ELA and math, suggesting a particularly challenging cohort or instructional issue at that level.
Notably, attendance is not the root cause of these struggles—Stanton’s chronic absenteeism rate of 12.4% is actually better than both the district (16.8%) and state (17.1%) averages. The school also spends a substantial $15,216 per student, which makes the poor outcomes even more puzzling. This disconnect between funding, attendance, and results points to deeper issues with curriculum alignment, instructional quality, or resource allocation. For parents considering this school, the data clearly indicates that Stanton Middle School is facing systemic academic challenges that require urgent intervention, particularly in math and science, and that the school is performing far below what families would expect from an average Delaware middle school.
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