Summary:
The New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District in Delaware serves approximately 4,812 students across four high schools (grades 9-12), ranking 20th out of 34 districts statewide with a 2-star rating. The district presents a striking contrast between high-performing and struggling schools, with St. Georges Technical High School leading the pack at 4 stars (11th of 41 high schools) while Howard High School of Technology lags at 0 stars (40th of 41).
St. Georges is the clear standout, achieving the district's best proficiency rates across all subjects—52.84% in English Language Arts, 14.18% in math, 36.23% in science, and 25.36% in social studies—while also posting the lowest chronic absenteeism (6.5%) and dropout rate (1.0%). Delcastle Technical High School shows the most promising improvement, jumping 8 positions in state rankings over three years, though its math proficiency (7.38%) remains below the state average. Hodgson (Paul M.) Vocational Technical High School sits in the middle with a 27th percentile ranking, despite having the most favorable student-teacher ratio (13.4:1). Howard struggles most significantly, with proficiency rates below 18% in every subject and a concerning 13.1% chronic absenteeism rate.
Notably, all four schools underperform the state average in mathematics, with Howard (4.31%) and Hodgson (4.74%) falling below 5% proficiency. The district maintains strong graduation rates (97.4% district-wide versus 88.9% statewide), suggesting students persist despite academic challenges. Interestingly, St. Georges achieves its top results with the lowest per-student spending ($17,207), while Howard spends more ($18,718) yet performs worst—indicating that factors beyond funding drive success. Chronic absenteeism correlates clearly with performance, making attendance improvement a potential key intervention. The district's bifurcation into two performance tiers suggests school-specific strategies may be more effective than uniform district-wide approaches.
Thank you for your feedback!