EastSide is home to the unique APEX Honors Program that offers accelerated educational programming for gifted students. EastSide Charter School opened its doors in 1997 in a small, former community center leased from the Wilmington Housing Authority. In 2005, the City of Wilmington awarded EastSide the recently-vacated Martin Luther King Elementary School built in 1962. Relocation to the MLK site
occurred prior to the 2005 school year. EastSide was the first charter school in the country to be founded in cooperation with a public housing authority, and located within its property; it was also the first elementary charter in Delaware. EastSide initially served grades K-4 but has since expanded to grades Pre-K-8, educating over 400 students per year in recent years. EastSide is located adjacent to the low income neighborhoods of East Lake and Riverside of northeast Wilmington. Approximately 87% of EastSide’s students qualify for federally-funded free or reduced cost meals while approximately 77% of our students have made sufficient academic growth according to Department of Education indicators. A central goal of the School is to educate children in a safe, nurturing environment that enables every student to excel both academically and socially. To ensure success, EastSide is focusing on structure, consistency, and academically rigorous programming toward developing students’ determination, a passion for learning, and an appreciation of personal skills and effort. EastSide has met the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress every year since 2010 due to the strong culture and drive of our students and staff. Our culture, known as, “The, EastSide Way” includes homework every night, adherence to school uniforms, timely attendance, and consistent enforcement of proper school behavior. Importantly, parent involvement is used to help incorporate our families into their child’s education and learning development. Our students deserve the opportunity to succeed in a vibrant, enthusiastic classroom environment. We stress thinking, reasoning and application among students through “hands-on” activities, balanced with student discussion and discovery.
