Summary:
Zip code 19807 in Wilmington, Delaware, is home to three high schools serving grades 6 through 12, with a combined enrollment of roughly 2,468 students, offering a unique mix of charter, arts magnet, and traditional public education options.
This small area presents a dramatic contrast in school performance. Calloway (Cab) School of the Arts is the current top performer, ranked #1 in the state for 2025-2026, with exceptional attendance (2.3% chronic absenteeism) and strong proficiency rates across all subjects and grade levels. Charter School of Wilmington, which shares a campus with Calloway, has a history of excellence, ranking #1 in 2018-2019 with similarly outstanding attendance. In stark contrast, duPont (Alexis I.) High School ranks last (41st) in the state, with a 40.3% chronic absenteeism rate and test scores far below district and state averages. For example, Calloway outperforms duPont by 54.6 percentage points in SAT ELA and 52.7 points in science.
Both Calloway and duPont belong to the Red Clay Consolidated School District, yet their outcomes could not be more different. Interestingly, duPont spends more per student ($16,399 vs. $13,394) and has a lower student-teacher ratio (13.7:1 vs. 19.6:1) than Calloway, yet achieves far worse results. This suggests that school culture, student engagement, and specialized programming are more critical to success than funding or class size alone. The data strongly indicates that attendance is a key predictor of achievement, with the two high-performing schools sharing a 2.3% chronic absenteeism rate versus duPont's 40.3%. For parents, this zip code offers a clear choice between two highly successful specialized schools and a traditional high school facing significant systemic challenges.
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