Summary:
Zip code 19938, serving the Clayton, Delaware area, is home to just one public high school: First State Military Academy, a grades 9-12 military-style academy with 433 students operating as its own single-school district, First State Military Academy.
For parents considering this area, First State Military Academy offers a unique, disciplined environment, but academic performance is mixed. The school’s biggest strength is English Language Arts, where 43.62% of 11th graders are proficient, nearly matching the state average of 44.02%. However, math proficiency is critically low at just 6.38% — nearly three times below the state’s 18.16% — and SAT essay writing (25.32% proficient) trails the state by 17.7 points. Social studies also lags at 16.84% proficiency, down sharply from the prior year. On a positive note, the dropout rate of 2.7% is better than the state’s 3.9%, suggesting the military structure helps retain students. Yet chronic absenteeism is a red flag: 24.6% of students are chronically absent, well above the state’s 17.1%, which likely contributes to the academic struggles. The school has held a steady 2-star rating and ranked in the low-to-mid 20s out of 41 Delaware high schools for three consecutive years, indicating stability but no improvement.
With a student-teacher ratio of 18:1 and per-student spending of $12,478, the school provides a moderately sized learning environment. The graduation rate of 84.3% is slightly below the state’s 88.9%. For parents, the appeal of a military academy may lie in its structure and lower dropout rate, but the severe math and writing deficits, combined with high absenteeism, suggest that supplemental academic support would be essential. The school’s near-average ELA performance shows literacy instruction is solid, making the math gap even more striking. Overall, this is a school with a clear identity but significant academic challenges that families should weigh carefully.
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