Cherokee County

Cherokee County Schools is a high-performing district of 37 schools—23 elementary, 7 middle, and 7 high schools—serving roughly 38,000 students in the northern Atlanta suburbs, and it ranks in the 89th percentile of Georgia districts with a 4-star rating.

For parents, the standout schools are clear. River Ridge High School leads the district’s high schools with a 5-star rating, top Algebra I proficiency (70.5%), and an impressive U.S. History score 18 points above the district average, while Creekview High School posts the highest graduation rate at 97.0% and the best Biology scores. At the middle school level, Dean Rusk Middle School is the top-ranked school (90th percentile) with perfect Algebra I proficiency, followed closely by Creekland Middle School and Mill Creek Middle School. Among elementary schools, Hickory Flat Elementary School is the highest-ranked (95th percentile) with 4th-grade math proficiency near 90%, while Bascomb Elementary School and Avery Elementary School also earn 5-star ratings. The most improved school is William G. Hasty- Senior Elementary School, which climbed 167 ranking positions, while Oak Grove Elementary School has declined significantly and is a school of concern.

District-wide, students outperform state averages by 11–17 percentage points in math, science, and history, and the middle school Algebra I acceleration program is exceptional—six of seven middle schools report near-perfect proficiency. However, Cherokee High School stands out as an outlier with the lowest graduation rate (82.1%), highest dropout rate (2.1%), and highest chronic absenteeism (20.9%), despite improving its ranking by 44 positions. Chronic absenteeism is a clear differentiator: the three high schools with the highest absenteeism all have below-average graduation rates, while the elementary schools with the lowest absenteeism are all 4- or 5-star rated. Notably, per-student spending does not correlate with performance—the lowest-spending schools are top performers, while higher spending at high-poverty schools reflects greater student needs. The district’s strength is clearly in elementary and middle schools, which bodes well for future high school cohorts.