Enrollment
410
Delaware · 2024-25 NCES data
Elementary school (grades K-5) · Blades, DE
Blades Elementary School
Federal NCES profile for Blades Elementary School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 31/100.
2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 100153000020
👥 S:T ratio 37
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 18
📋 Attendance 39
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Blades Elementary School earns 31/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 77% of Delaware schools.
- 31
- Resource Index · Lower
- 15.8:1
- large classes for Delaware
- 410
- students enrolled
Blades Elementary School has class sizes larger than 77% of Delaware schools. Computed live against every Delaware school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Seaford School District · Delaware
NCES ID 100153000020 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
26.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
15.8:1
vs 13.9:1 Delaware avg
+14% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Blades Elementary School compares with Delaware and U.S. medians
What stands out at Blades Elementary School
Blades Elementary School is a mid-sized elementary school in Blades, Delaware, enrolling 410 students.
Class loads run somewhat heavier than typical: 15.8:1 puts it in the larger third of Delaware schools by student-teacher ratio.
Enrollment of 410 puts it in the smaller third of Delaware schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the lower third of 222 scored Delaware schools.
Its student body is led by Hispanic or Latino (39%) and African American (29%) (diversity index 71/100).
Counselor access is stretched at roughly 410 students per counselor, well above the ASCA-recommended 250:1 ceiling.
Attendance runs somewhat below the norm, with 24.4% of students chronically absent per the 2021-22 civil-rights collection.
Its district draws 20.9% of revenue from federal sources, an above-typical federal share that tends to track a higher-need student population.
Seaford School District also operates Seaford Senior High School (960 students) and Seaford Middle School (800 students) alongside Blades Elementary School.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Blades Elementary School compares
Blades Elementary School on the metrics families compare, against Delaware and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Delaware | Delaware avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 15.8:1 | ▲ 14% | 13.9:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 410 | top 70% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
15.8:1
Leaner classes than 40% of US schools, a middle-of-the-pack class size.
410
Bigger than 49% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
15.8:1
students per teacher
- 14% above state mean
Top 77% in Delaware - lower ratio than 23% of state schools
Close to the 15:1 benchmark most often cited for individualized attention.
Engagement
24.4%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
At or above 20%, the commonly used threshold for "high" chronic absenteeism, signaling significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$17,673
per pupil, district-wide
- above Delaware avg of $16,990
Somewhat above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 410 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
7
in-school suspensions + 10 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 1.7 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 4.1 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Student demographics
Hispanic or Latino 39.3%
African American 28.5%
White 22.2%
Two or More 9.0%
Asian 0.5%
American Indian / Alaska Native 0.5%
Largest group: Hispanic or Latino at 39.3% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 70.7/100
Simpson diversity index - at 70.7, Blades Elementary School is more mixed than the Delaware school average of 61.3.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Seaford School District, which includes Blades Elementary School.
$17,673
Per student
+4%
vs Delaware
Avg $16,990
+7%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 15.9%
State 63.1%
Federal 20.9%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
How Blades Elementary School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seaford Senior High School | Larger | No free-lunch data | Higher S:T ratio |
| Seaford Middle School | Larger | No free-lunch data | Lower S:T ratio |
| Seaford Central Elementary School | Similar size | No free-lunch data | Similar S:T ratio |
| Frederick Douglass Elementary School | Similar size | No free-lunch data | Lower S:T ratio |
| West Seaford Elementary School | Similar size | No free-lunch data | Similar S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Blades Elementary School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 960
- Students per teacher
- 19.2:1
- Resource Index
- 14/100
- Enrollment
- 800
- Students per teacher
- 13.3:1
- Resource Index
- 26/100
- Enrollment
- 473
- Students per teacher
- 15.3:1
- Resource Index
- 58/100
- Enrollment
- 456
- Students per teacher
- 14.3:1
- Resource Index
- 46/100
- Enrollment
- 424
- Students per teacher
- 15.7:1
- Resource Index
- 39/100
Similar elementary schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Delaware, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~410 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Blades Elementary School's federal record.
- Compare Blades Elementary School against another school. Compare schools
- Seaford School District's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Blades Elementary School
How many students attend Blades Elementary School?
Blades Elementary School has 410 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Blades, DE.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Blades Elementary School?
The student-teacher ratio at Blades Elementary School is 15.8:1, which is 14% higher than the Delaware average of 13.9:1 and 1% higher than the national average of 15.7:1.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Blades Elementary School?
The largest demographic group at Blades Elementary School is Hispanic or Latino at 39.3% of enrollment, in Blades, DE. Its student body is more racially and ethnically mixed than most US schools, with a diversity index of 70.7/100.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Blades Elementary School?
Blades Elementary School has a Resource Investment Index of 31/100 (lower reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Blades Elementary School a good school?
Blades Elementary School earns 31/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes larger than 77% of Delaware schools. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Seaford School District?
Besides Blades Elementary School, Seaford School District also operates Seaford Senior High School (960 students), Seaford Middle School (800 students), and Seaford Central Elementary School (473 students). See the Seaford School District district page for the complete list.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.