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Best Public Schools in New Castle, DE

New rankings! SchoolDigger recently updated its Delaware rankings with newly released test scores for the 2025-26 school year.

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At a glance

Schools

8,089

Students

Districts

Top rankedEisenberg (Harry O.) Elementary School75^th of 106 Delaware elementary schools

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Biggest riser

Eisenberg (Harry O.) Elementary School up 10 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

Castle Hills Elementary School 12.1 students per teacher

SchoolDigger ratings

2★

1★

0★

1 school without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)

Compare Delaware cities →See the top-ranked Delaware schools →

Summary:

New Castle, Delaware is served by 13 schools—8 elementary, 3 middle, 1 high, and 1 alternative school—spanning Pre-K through 12th grade, with a total enrollment of roughly 8,249 students across the Colonial School District and the independent Charter School of New Castle.

For parents, the standout choice is Charter School of New Castle, which despite having the largest class sizes (22.5:1) outperforms all local traditional public schools, exceeding state averages in 3rd grade math, 8th grade ELA, and 5th grade social studies. Among Colonial schools, Eisenberg (Harry O.) Elementary School shows the most promise, with 5th grade math proficiency above the state average and the district's best upward ranking trend. Castle Hills Elementary School also improved dramatically, jumping 12 spots in state rankings. In contrast, McCullough (Calvin R. ) Middle School is the most concerning, ranking in the 7th percentile statewide with 0 stars, while Leach (John G.) School, the alternative school, faces extreme challenges with a 43.8% chronic absenteeism rate despite spending $123,173 per student—nearly 10 times the district average.

Chronic absenteeism is the district's biggest red flag, averaging 24.8% versus the state's 17.1%, and it correlates strongly with low performance at Penn (William) High School (37% absenteeism, 22.22% ELA proficiency) and McCullough (39.7%). However, Pleasantville Elementary School (8.1% absenteeism) and Wilmington Manor Elementary School (9.2%) prove attendance interventions work, showing relatively better outcomes. A "middle school cliff" is evident—all three middle schools fall far behind state averages, with Bedford (Gunning) Middle School posting just 8.77% 8th grade science proficiency. Social studies is a relative strength across the board, with Pleasantville and Charter School exceeding state averages. Notably, Southern Elementary School spends the most among traditional schools ($21,301/student) yet ranks in the 14th percentile, proving that how money is spent matters more than how much is spent.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				DeSSA Science (2026)			DeSSA Social Studies (2026)						SAT English Language Arts (2026)	SAT Mathematics (2026)	SAT Essay (2026)	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts (2026)						Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics (2026)						Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients (2016)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	DeSSA Science 5th Grade	DeSSA Science 8th Grade	DeSSA Science 10th Grade	DeSSA Social Studies 4th Grade	DeSSA Social Studies 5th Grade	DeSSA Social Studies 6th Grade	DeSSA Social Studies 7th Grade	DeSSA Social Studies 8th Grade	DeSSA Social Studies 11th Grade	SAT English Language Arts 11th Grade	SAT Mathematics 11th Grade	SAT Essay 11th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts 3rd Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts 4th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts 5th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 3rd Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 4th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 5th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 8th Grade	Total
Charter School of New Castle	Public, Charter	K-8	170 Lukens Drive	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Charter School of New Castle	Yes	No	No	Yes	(302) 324-8901	788	35	22.5	51.0%	19 (2.4%)	721 (91.5%)	33 (4.2%)	2 (0.3%)	5 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	7 (0.9%)	27.5	77^th of 106 public elementary schools	27.4%		32.4	70^th of 109 public elementary schools	35.8%	7	20.9			22.9	65.4	33.3	51.9	24.5					31.7	34.2	36.1	26.7	29.4	33.0	26.6	26.8	22.4	21.7	21.4	19.6
Southern Elementary School	Public	K-5	795 Cox Neck Road	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 832-6300	729	57	12.7	40.2%	251 (34.4%)	362 (49.7%)	68 (9.3%)	16 (2.2%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	29 (4.0%)	12.8	91^st of 106 public elementary schools	14.2%		13	96^th of 109 public elementary schools	11.9%	5	11.9			16.7	44.2								23.8	18.2	16.7				25.7	20.5	21.1				$36,601
Leach (John G.) School	Public, Alternative	PK, KG-12	10 Landers Lane	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	No	(302) 429-4055	95	15	6.3	96.4%	29 (30.5%)	41 (43.2%)	18 (18.9%)	4 (4.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.2%)								(n/a)
Wilmington Manor Elementary School	Public	K-5	200 East Roosevelt Avenue	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2901	291	22	13.2	51.0%	82 (28.2%)	101 (34.7%)	85 (29.2%)	4 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	18 (6.2%)	16.3	86^th of 106 public elementary schools	18.9%		27.3	76^th of 109 public elementary schools	30.3%	10	15.8			23.5	38.9								27.3	22.1	23.7				25.0	26.1					$30,702
Pleasantville Elementary School	Public	K-5	16 Pleasant Street	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2935	389	29	13.4	46.1%	89 (22.9%)	169 (43.4%)	104 (26.7%)	4 (1.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (5.7%)	23.8	80^th of 106 public elementary schools	24.5%		20.4	88^th of 109 public elementary schools	19.3%	8	20.3			22.7	66.2								21.2	21.8	39.1				27.7	22.1	18.8				$25,005
Eisenberg (Harry O.) Elementary School	Public	K-5	27 Landers Lane	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 429-4074	436	32	13.6	99.4%	37 (8.5%)	196 (45.0%)	166 (38.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (8.3%)	29.4	75^th of 106 public elementary schools	29.2%		21.8	85^th of 109 public elementary schools	22.0%	10	25.8			26.4	54.1								21.1	29.3	44.3				23.4	30.7	35.5				$24,085
Castle Hills Elementary School	Public	K-5	502 Moores Lane	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2915	462	38	12.1	53.9%	78 (16.9%)	179 (38.7%)	138 (29.9%)	28 (6.1%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	36 (7.8%)	18.6	84^th of 106 public elementary schools	20.8%		21.3	86^th of 109 public elementary schools	21.1%	2	19.1			33.3	40.6								18.5	22.5	33.3				22.7	26.6	14.5				$24,288
Downie (Carrie) Elementary School	Public	K-5	1201 Delaware Street	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2926	324	25	12.9	50.3%	82 (25.3%)	122 (37.7%)	94 (29.0%)	3 (0.9%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	20 (6.2%)	11.8	94^th of 106 public elementary schools	11.3%		10.8	100^th of 109 public elementary schools	8.3%	6	13.2			21.3	48.0								17.8	19.6	17.3				15.6	23.5	11.3				$23,745
Read (George) Middle School	Public	6-8	314 East Basin Road	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2760	662	49	13.5	39.7%	177 (26.7%)	278 (42.0%)	162 (24.5%)	11 (1.7%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	30 (4.5%)	23.4	44^th of 59 public middle schools	25.4%		18	46^th of 59 public middle schools	22.0%	2		7.5				44.2	43.7	34.5								32.8	22.7	27.1				14.4	10.5	17.4	$24,736
Bedford (Gunning) Middle School	Public	6-8	801 Cox Neck Road	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 832-6280	846	56	15.1	28.4%	220 (26.0%)	427 (50.5%)	131 (15.5%)	21 (2.5%)	5 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	41 (4.8%)	28	42^nd of 59 public middle schools	28.8%		24.5	43^rd of 59 public middle schools	27.1%	1		8.8				36.4	64.4	35.8								21.0	31.8	28.8				12.0	16.4	21.0	$24,405
Penn (William) High School	Public	9-12	713 East Basin Road	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2800	2,069	117	17.6	34.2%	443 (21.4%)	1,030 (49.8%)	483 (23.3%)	34 (1.6%)	9 (0.4%)	3 (0.1%)	67 (3.2%)	25.3	32^nd of 41 public high schools	22.0%		28.7	29^th of 41 public high schools	29.3%	3			13.6						23.2	22.2	9.4	23.1													$24,132
McCullough (Calvin R. ) Middle School	Public	6-8	20 Chase Avenue	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 429-4000	615	35	17.5	99.6%	72 (11.7%)	279 (45.4%)	231 (37.6%)	3 (0.5%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (4.2%)	10.5	55^th of 59 public middle schools	6.8%		8	57^th of 59 public middle schools	3.4%	2		3.1				32.1	32.1	16.9								19.4	15.5	17.2				12.2	7.2	9.7	$24,377
New Castle Elementary School	Public	K-5	903 Delaware Street	New Castle	19720	New Castle County	Colonial School District	No	No	No	Yes	(302) 323-2880	383	29	13.2	57.7%	63 (16.4%)	177 (46.2%)	124 (32.4%)	1 (0.3%)	3 (0.8%)	2 (0.5%)	13 (3.4%)	13.3	90^th of 106 public elementary schools	15.1%		14.7	93^rd of 109 public elementary schools	14.7%	3				21.3	39.0								18.8	23.0	22.6				25.0	26.7	12.9				$25,464

Cities Near New Castle

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Wilmington	3.15 mi	56	25^th
Newark	3.6 mi	29	22^nd
Greenville	6.57 mi	1	34^th
Bear	6.67 mi	3	24^th
Hockessin	7.57 mi	3	2^nd

See the top DE Delaware cities

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Delaware Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.