Summary:
Zip code 19807 in Greenville, Delaware, is home to just one middle school, duPont (Alexis I.) Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 455 students as part of the Red Clay Consolidated School District.
duPont Middle School is currently ranked in the bottom 10% of Delaware middle schools, holding a 1-star rating and ranking 54th out of 59 schools statewide. Academic performance is severely below state averages across every subject and grade level, with proficiency gaps ranging from 10 to 33 percentage points. Mathematics is the most critical weakness, with only 7-9% of students proficient in grades 6, 7, and 8—roughly one-quarter to one-third of the state average. The school also struggles with chronic absenteeism, as 27.4% of students are chronically absent, a rate 60% higher than the state average. This likely contributes significantly to the low test scores. Interestingly, the school spends a substantial $15,518 per student, yet this high resource allocation has not translated into improved outcomes, suggesting that financial investment alone is insufficient to address the school's challenges.
There are some positive signs, however. Eighth graders show relative strength compared to younger students, particularly in English Language Arts where 30.83% are proficient, and they have the smallest gap in Social Studies at -16.6 points. Additionally, 6th graders demonstrated the most year-over-year improvement, with Social Studies proficiency jumping 11.4 points and ELA improving 5.3 points. This momentum with younger students could indicate that recent instructional changes are beginning to take effect. However, 7th grade saw notable declines, including a 9.5-point drop in ELA proficiency. The school's performance is dramatically below its own district averages by 20-30 points, making duPont an outlier even within Red Clay Consolidated School District. For parents, this school faces severe systemic challenges, and while there are glimmers of progress, targeted interventions around attendance and math instruction are urgently needed to reverse the current trajectory.
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