The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Baltz (austin D.) Elementary School
Baltz (Austin D.) Elementary School sits on Spruce Avenue in Wilmington, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Red Clay Consolidated School District. It is a regular public school, neither a charter nor a magnet, and its enrollment falls in a typical range for an elementary school serving this grade band. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black population and a smaller white enrollment, plus a handful of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. This is a school where many children likely come from bilingual or multilingual households, though the data does not confirm English-learner counts because those figures were not reported. Free and reduced-price lunch counts were also missing, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be read from the available numbers.
On state assessments, Baltz shows proficiency levels that sit well below where they were before the pandemic and have not recovered. In English language arts, proficiency rose steadily through the late 2010s, reaching a high point in the year before COVID disrupted schooling. After the pandemic, ELA proficiency dropped sharply and has remained in a much lower band since, with the most recent results showing only a slight uptick from the prior year. Math follows a similar arc: pre-pandemic gains gave way to a steep decline, and current proficiency remains modest. Science proficiency is particularly low, and social studies results from the prior year were also limited. Against the comparison set of New Castle County districts, Baltz lands in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. A parent weighing this school may want to look into how the building is supporting academic recovery and what interventions are in place, because the trend lines show a school that was gaining ground before the pandemic and has struggled to regain it.
The school does not have a graduation rate, which is expected because it serves only elementary grades. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. Discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance details were also absent from the data we received, so those dimensions of school life cannot be described here. Title I status was not reported, and the locale classification was missing.
Baltz sits in a Wilmington neighborhood where housing costs run below both the state and national benchmarks. Home values in the school's zip code are modest relative to Delaware as a whole, and rents have been rising but remain within a range that keeps the rental burden near a third of typical household income. Buying costs more than renting in this area, with monthly mortgage payments well above what renting would run, which may shape the choices families make about settling here. Wilmington itself is Delaware's largest city and a corporate and financial hub, with a downtown core anchored by national banks, a revitalized Riverfront district, and rail access to Philadelphia via Amtrak and SEPTA. The city carries a deep industrial heritage tied to DuPont and has shifted toward finance and professional services over recent decades. Red Clay Consolidated School District is among the city's major employers.
For families thinking beyond elementary school, Red Clay is restructuring its secondary options. The district has announced plans to transform McKean High School into an Innovation Campus launching in August 2027, with a focus on industry-recognized credentials and applied learning. That is a future consideration for Baltz families whose children will age into the district's secondary system. For now, the picture at Baltz is one of a diverse elementary school in an affordable urban neighborhood, working to reverse a post-pandemic academic slide that has yet to turn around.
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