Freire Charter School

Freire Charter School is a small, urban charter high school in Wilmington, DE, serving 406 students in grades 8 through 12, and operating as its own district, the Freire Charter School Wilmington district.

For parents considering this school, the most important thing to know is that academic performance is significantly below state averages. In the most recent school year, only about 20% of 11th graders were proficient in English Language Arts on the SAT, compared to 44% statewide. Math proficiency was even lower, at under 7% in the prior year, versus 18.4% statewide. Science and social studies proficiency rates were also roughly half the state average. The graduation rate of 78.8% is 10 points below the state average, and the dropout rate of 8.9% is more than double the state average. Chronic absenteeism, while improving from a pandemic-era peak of 70%, remains high at 36.5%—more than double the state rate and far above nearby schools like Delcastle Technical High School (7.4%) and Howard High School of Technology (13.1%).

Compared to its neighbors, Freire faces notable challenges. Its student-teacher ratio of 23.8 is higher than most nearby schools, suggesting larger class sizes. The school also spends less per student ($13,729) than nearby schools like Brandywine High School ($18,488) or Mount Pleasant High School ($17,142). Interestingly, while test scores are similar to Howard High School of Technology, located just 0.42 miles away, Howard has a dramatically higher graduation rate (97.1% vs. 78.8%), likely due to its career and technical education focus. On a positive note, chronic absenteeism has dropped by nearly half from its peak, and the school shows relatively stronger outcomes for its African American students. However, the combination of low test scores, high dropout rates, and resource constraints makes this a school where parents should carefully weigh the challenges against any potential benefits.