Middle Schools in Colonial School District

The Colonial School District in Delaware is home to three middle schools serving grades 6-8: Bedford (Gunning) Middle School, McCullough (Calvin R.) Middle School, and Read (George) Middle School. While the schools share a district, they exhibit notable differences in academic performance, student demographics, and resource allocation.

Among the three, Read (George) Middle School stands out as the highest-performing, with the best overall test scores, lowest chronic absenteeism rate, and smallest student-teacher ratio. In contrast, McCullough (Calvin R.) Middle School lags behind, with the lowest proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Mathematics across all grades. The racial composition of the schools also varies, with Bedford (Gunning) Middle School having a higher percentage of White students and McCullough (Calvin R.) Middle School having a higher percentage of Hispanic students.

Across the Colonial School District, the middle schools face significant challenges, with all three performing well below state averages in academic proficiency. High chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 27.6% to 41.4%, may be a contributing factor to the low performance. Additionally, the disparities in spending per student, from $12,575 to $14,743, suggest potential resource allocation issues within the district that could be addressed to improve student outcomes.