The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in Social studies. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Shortlidge (evan G.) Academy
Shortlidge (Evan G.) Academy sits on West 18th Street in Wilmington, part of the Red Clay Consolidated School District. It is a regular public school serving kindergarten through second grade, which places it among the earliest entry points in the district. The building enrolls a sizable group of young children across its three grade levels, with the largest cohort in second grade.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller Hispanic population and a modest number of White and Asian students. Beyond race and ethnicity, several data points that parents often look for were not available in the sources we reviewed. Free or reduced-price lunch counts were missing, as were rates for students with individualized education programs and English learners. Title I status was also not reported. Without these figures, it is hard to characterize the school's economic profile or the scope of its specialized services from the data alone, and a parent may want to ask the school directly about its support populations.
Because Shortlidge now serves only kindergarten through second grade, the school has no current state assessment results to report. Delaware's testing begins in third grade, so a school ending at second grade sits outside the state accountability framework by design. The academic data that does appear in the record dates to an earlier period when the school apparently served upper elementary grades. Those results, from the Smarter Balanced assessment in math and English language arts along with DCAS science and social studies, showed proficiency rates that were quite low across the board, with most grades scoring well below what Delaware schools typically aim for. In the county-level comparison set, the school's overall proficiency index from that earlier period sat below the midpoint among New Castle County districts. These figures are dated, though, and reflect a different grade configuration than the one the school operates today, so they tell a parent little about current classroom outcomes. We found no more recent academic data, and no trend analysis was possible because only a single year of results was on record. No graduation rate applies here, and no chronic absenteeism figure was available for comparison.
The surrounding Wilmington neighborhood shapes the school's context in ways worth understanding. Wilmington is Delaware's largest city and its corporate, financial, and governmental center, with a downtown core of office towers and a revitalized Riverfront district that has replaced former industrial and shipyard land with restaurants, galleries, and gathering spaces. The city sits on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor with a SEPTA connection to Philadelphia, and I-95 runs directly through it. Publicly reported sources describe the city as having a compact, grid-patterned downtown that retains some small-town walkability despite its economic footprint, with parkland and trails available to residents. The broader economy is anchored by national banks, healthcare systems, and the state government, with Red Clay Consolidated School District itself counted among the city's major employers.
Housing in the school's zip code is modestly priced compared with state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the Delaware statewide figure. Rents are also relatively low. At the same time, the price-to-income ratio for the area is elevated, which suggests that local wages may not stretch as far as the raw price figures might imply. For families renting rather than buying, the monthly cost sits at a level that takes up a meaningful but not overwhelming portion of typical household income. Home values in the zip code have been roughly flat to slightly declining, while rents have edged upward.
Within Red Clay, the district is publicly reported to be transforming Thomas McKean High School into an innovation campus slated to open in August 2027, with industry-recognized credentials and what the district describes as cutting-edge learning experiences. That change sits at the secondary level and would not directly shape a family's experience at Shortlidge, but it signals a district actively restructuring its upper-grade options, which may matter as younger children progress through the system.
For a family considering Shortlidge today, the available data paints an incomplete picture. The school serves an early-childhood grade band where state testing does not apply, the demographic record lacks economic and disability indicators, and the only academic results on file come from an earlier era with different grades served. What a parent can see is a school anchoring the earliest years of learning in a dense, transit-connected urban setting with relatively affordable housing, part of a district investing in new approaches at the secondary level. Asking the school about current classroom practices, support services, and how students transition into third grade and beyond would help fill in the gaps the data leaves open.
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