The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in Social studies. The lowest is 10% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lewis (william C.) Dual Language Elementary School
Lewis(William C.) Dual Language Elementary School sits on North Van Buren Street in Wilmington, part of the Red Clay Consolidated School District. It serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school. The name signals a dual language program, though the data provided here does not describe the program's structure, languages of instruction, or model. A parent interested in this school would want to confirm those details directly, since the dual language identity is central to what distinguishes this building from others in the district.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black population and a smaller White enrollment. A handful of students belong to other racial or ethnic groups. The school's total enrollment is modest for an elementary building spanning six grades. Several pieces of demographic information were not available in this dataset, including free or reduced-price lunch status, individualized education program counts, and English learner rates. Without those figures, it is hard to gauge the full economic and linguistic context of the classrooms, though the dual language mission and the Hispanic-majority enrollment suggest many students are growing up in bilingual households.
On state assessments, proficiency is low across the board. In the most recent year, math and English language arts results both fell well below what most schools in the comparison set achieve, and science was lower still. Social studies, reported for an earlier year and a single grade, was the relative bright spot, with a larger share of students reaching proficiency than in the other subjects. Looking across several years, both reading and math took a sharp dive during the pandemic period and have been recovering unevenly since. The most recent results dipped from the prior year in both subjects, which sits against the broader pattern of gradual post-pandemic climb.
Against districts in New Castle County, Lewis lands below the midpoint on an overall proficiency index that averages results across tested subjects and grades. This positions the school in the lower tier academically relative to its neighboring districts. A parent weighing this school may want to ask how the dual language model affects when proficiency is measured, since students splitting instructional time across two languages sometimes show different trajectories on English-medium state tests than in monolingual settings. That question is worth raising with school leadership rather than assuming the numbers tell the whole story.
Several metrics that would round out the picture are absent. Chronic absenteeism was not reported. Participation rates for the most recent assessments were missing. The school does not have a graduation rate, which is expected since it serves only elementary grades. No data on discipline, course access, staffing, or attendance was available beyond the assessment results.
The surrounding community is Wilmington, Delaware's largest city and its corporate, financial, and governmental center. The downtown core is compact and grid-patterned, with a walkable mix of offices, restaurants, galleries, and performance venues. The revitalized Riverfront area serves as a newer gathering space, and the city's parkland includes trails and green space threaded through residential neighborhoods. Wilmington Train Station offers direct Amtrak and SEPTA rail service to Philadelphia, and the city is bisected by major interstate highways. The local economy draws on national banking, healthcare, and pharmaceutical companies, with large employers including ChristianaCare, the State of Delaware, and the University of Delaware. Red Clay Consolidated School District itself is among the city's major employers. At the district level, Red Clay is planning to transform Thomas McKean High School into an innovation campus with industry-recognized credentials, a secondary-level change that would not directly affect families at Lewis but signals the district's interest in career-connected learning.
Housing in the school's zip code is more affordable than the state benchmark, with typical home values sitting below both Delaware and national figures. Rents are moderate relative to income, and monthly mortgage costs run higher than renting. This makes the area relatively accessible for renters and families who are not yet positioned to buy, though the price-to-income ratio suggests purchasing a home here still stretches household budgets. The zip code has seen home values climb modestly over the past year, with rents rising at a slightly faster pace.
For a family considering Lewis, the draw is the dual language mission within an urban, transit-connected setting and a district investing in program innovation. The academic results are a soft spot, and a parent would be right to look into how the school supports students toward proficiency while building biliteracy, and what the recovery trajectory looks like year over year.
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