The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in English language arts. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dr Fermin Calderon El
Dr. Fermin Calderon Elementary sits on Highway 90 East in Del Rio, a city in Val Verde County along the Texas-Mexico border. It serves kindergarten through fifth grade within San Felipe-Del Rio CISD, and its enrollment places it among the larger elementary schools for its grade band. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, reflecting the demographics of the surrounding community, and the vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high-need population by economic measures.
One thing worth knowing upfront: this school is one of three campuses in the district publicly reported to host the Elementary STEM Academy, an immersion model where academic content is woven through integrated STEM activities across the year. That designation shapes daily instruction in ways a standard elementary school would not, and enrollment in the academy program is application-based, so families considering this for that reason would want to contact the district directly about the process.
On state assessments, Dr. Fermin Calderon's results from the most recent STAAR testing present a mixed picture. Reading and language arts proficiency climbs noticeably from third grade through fifth, with fifth graders reaching rates that approach or exceed the midpoint, suggesting some positive momentum as students move through the upper elementary years. Math tells a different story: third grade proficiency is quite low, fourth grade improves substantially, and fifth grade settles into the mid-range. Science results for fifth graders are notably low, well below where reading performance lands, and that gap is something a parent would want to ask the school about directly. Social studies approaches-grade results are in the majority, but the share reaching the higher "meets" and "masters" thresholds is thin. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Val Verde County, where the comparison set contains only two districts, so that positioning reflects a meaningful performance gap rather than a statistical outlier effect.
Multi-year trend data is available for only a single year, so there is no way from this data to assess whether scores are improving, declining, or holding steady. A parent who wants to understand trajectory should ask the school or district for longitudinal campus-level data.
On the district side, San Felipe-Del Rio CISD put a bond proposal before voters in November 2025 that would fund a replacement Del Rio Freshman Center, a new brick-and-mortar elementary STEM magnet school, tech center and gym improvements at the middle school level, and classroom and cafeteria expansions at another elementary campus. The district stated it did not intend to raise the debt tax rate. The outcome of that vote was not confirmed in the available sources, so families would want to verify whether the bond passed and what the construction timeline looks like, as the new STEM magnet school in particular could affect program options over the coming years.
The district also operates under a renewed District of Innovation plan that allows an earlier school year start, in August rather than late August, and permits the hiring of credentialed industry professionals for hard-to-fill career and technical education positions. A recent amendment extended similar flexibility to arts and music staffing.
The Del Rio housing market is well below both the Texas state median and the national median for home values, making it among the more affordable markets in the state for buyers. Rents have seen modest upward movement year over year. Locale research for Del Rio returned no usable detail on the character of the city, its major employers, walkability, or civic anchors before the search budget was exhausted, so that context is missing here rather than assumed.
No data was available on chronic absenteeism, graduation rates do not apply since the school ends at fifth grade, Title I status was not reported in the data, and English learner and IEP counts were not available. Those gaps are worth raising with the school directly, particularly the English learner figure given the community context.
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