U.S. News just ranked Delaware’s top high schools. What do they get, what do they miss?

Date:2025-08-20 17:54:02 Category:US Views:1 Comment:0

Before schools up and down Delaware can open their doors, new rankings from U.S. News & World Report just dropped.

These rankings for public high schools across the country review more than 24,000 charter and traditional schools in all states and the District of Columbia, and this included the First State. Delaware's Charter School of Wilmington even broke the top-100 nationwide, at No. 87. Such rankings always draw coverage and national attention – which makes sense, as these strong schools have high-achieving students lining their rosters.

It should be celebrated. But, there's also more to the story worth noting.

U.S. News & World Report's rankings have come under scrutiny over the years, for favoring certain kinds of schools and overemphasizing standardized testing scores, which have historically favored wealthier districts. In Delaware, its top schools tend to host fewer students who have high needs.

Looking at just the top 10, every school served a smaller percentage of lower-income children than the average across state enrollment, according to data last updated at the start of last academic year.

Graduates march to the stage at the start of graduation ceremonies for Charter School of Wilmington at the DuPont Theater on June 7, 2014.

Six of those high schools served less than half of the state average, which is just over 26.5%. And, even among three of the four not charter or magnet, their home district's average household income runs higher than Delaware's overall, according to census data.

The three top schools – Charter School of Wilmington, Sussex Academy and Newark Charter School – have 3.4%, 6.5% and 9.6% lower-income students respectively. In the No. 1 high school, just about 1% of students live with a disability and about half of a percentage point are considered multilingual learners.

Ranked No. 8 and No. 10, traditional public schools Caesar Rodney High and Brandywine High School were the closest to serving Delaware's average, with about 21% and 25% of students facing economic disadvantage respectively. Brandywine also taught the highest share of students living with disabilities at 21%, which is about two points above the statewide figure.

As for multilingual students, or those learning English as a second language, only three schools on the list served half the average in state enrollment, which is about 12.5%. That's notably higher than last year, when no top-10 school met half that average.

Cape Henlopen High is the closest to average, at about 9% of its student body.

Now for the list...

Brandywine High School held their commencement ceremony on June 1, 2025 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark

Delaware had 49 public high schools, charter and traditional, in U.S. News' review.

Some schools didn’t make the rankings, and neither of course did any of the state’s private institutions. The list touts familiar names, while Cape Henlopen High School and Sussex Academy made big moves from last spring's list, the first having been just outside the top-10 in 2024, the latter climbing three spots to No. 2.

Big picture, some schools are not built to serve every student who walks in. Some are also made more rigorous by design, as previously reported. Conrad Schools of Science and Cab Calloway School of the Arts, for example, are both magnet schools. Others also require lottery or an application with primary criteria like attendance and grades.

Nationwide, high-ranking schools tend to be in wealthier communities, have better resources, hold stronger tax bases. Experts say rankings like these can fail to take into account the kind of resources available in such communities to help raise student achievement on state assessments and advanced courses.

Ranking Delaware's top-10 public high schools: