Best High Schools in Delaware (2025-26)
Every ranked high school in Delaware, ordered by SchoolGrade. A grade rewards actual test performance against the projection for each school's student context, so a B in a high-poverty school can outrank an A- elsewhere on impact. Click a column heading to sort, or filter by school, city or district.
Delaware rankings: High Schools · Middle Schools · Elementary Schools
Delaware high schools ranked
How Delaware's high schools compare
A: 11B: 8C: 8D: 9F: 3
49% of the 39 ranked high schools in Delaware earn an A or B (11 A grades, 8 B, 8 C, 9 D, 3 F), against 50% of high schools nationwide. 30 schools meet or beat the proficiency projected from their student context (77% here, 74% nationally), and 19 exceed it. On average 33% of tested students meet the state bar against a projected 41% (national averages: 44% actual, 41% projected).
Districts with the most schools in the top quarter (the top 10): Red Clay Consolidated School District (2).
Cities with the most ranked high schools: Wilmington (14, 9 at A or B), Newark (5, 2 at A or B), Middletown (3, 3 at A or B).
The largest ranked high schools: Newark Charter School (2,987 students, A+, #2), Caesar Rodney High School (2,257 students, A-, #9), Penn William High School (2,239 students, D+, #30).
Of the top 25, 2 are magnet schools and 7 are charters. Selective and specialised schools tend to post high actual scores; the projection column is the fairer comparison for a neighborhood school.
High schools in Delaware that are not ranked
20 graded high schools are listed here rather than ranked, each for the reason given. Every one has its own page with its full SchoolGrade report.
Special-purpose schools (6)
Alternative, special-education and vocational schools serve a different mission and a different student body, so they are graded but not ranked against regular schools.
- C+ Delcastle Technical High School, Wilmington
- D Hodgson Paul M Vocational Technical High School, Newark
- F Howard High School Of Technology, Wilmington
- B Polytech High School, Woodside
- B St Georges Technical High School, Middletown
- B- Sussex Technical High School, Georgetown
Not yet graded (14)
Our source data has no school-level proficiency results for these schools, so they carry no SchoolGrade yet.
- Brennen School The, Newark
- Delaware School For The Deaf, Newark
- Douglass School, Wilmington
- Ennis Howard T School, Georgetown
- First State School, Wilmington
- Great Oaks Charter School, Wilmington
- Indian River Intensive Learning Center, Selbyville
- John S Charlton School, Camden
- Kent County Community School, Dover
- Kent County Secondary Ilc, Dover
- Leach John G School, New Castle
- Meadowood Program, Newark
- Positive Outcomes Charter School, Camden
- Sussex Consortium, Lewes
About this ranking
- Scope: every public high school in Delaware.
- Order: SchoolGrade, then actual proficiency, then name; schools with the same grade and score share a rank.
- Ranked: regular public schools that NCES lists as open, not fully online, with at least 30 students. Others are listed with the reason.
- Tags: Magnet and Charter from the NCES school directory; K-12 marks schools serving every grade that are ranked with the high schools.
- Grades are the 2025-26 SchoolGrade model. How SchoolGrade works
Questions about high schools in Delaware
What is the best high school in Delaware?
Charter School Of Wilmington in Wilmington ranks first among the 39 ranked high schools in Delaware with a SchoolGrade of A+, 85% of tested students meeting the state bar against a projected 80%.
How are high schools in Delaware ranked?
By SchoolGrade, the 2025-26 model that scores each school's actual test proficiency against the level projected for its student context, then by actual proficiency to break ties. Regular public schools that are open, not fully online and have at least 30 students are ranked; the rest are listed below the table with the reason.
How many high schools does Delaware have?
SchoolGrade grades 59 public high schools in Delaware; 39 are ranked here and 20 are listed as not ranked.