Cherokee

The Cherokee area has three schools serving prekindergarten through 12th grade: Southeast Elementary School (149 students), Southeast Middle School (128), and Southeast High (152), for 429 students altogether. Across the schools, average proficiency was 41% in English language arts (ELA), 30% in math, and 23% in science where results were reported, compared with state results of 46%, 41%, and 38%, respectively. The most important finding is that performance differs sharply by school: all-grades ELA results span 36 percentage points.

Southeast Elementary School is the clearest academic standout, leading in both ELA and math: its ELA result was 59%, 18 points above the state and 27 points above the average of the other two schools; its math result was 39%, the group’s highest, but 2 points below the state. That math strength is not consistent across grades: fourth-grade math was 11 points below the state. Southeast High has the lowest all-grades ELA result, 23%, and science result, 18%; those were 23 and 21 points below state results. Southeast Middle sits between the other schools in ELA and leads the two schools reporting science, at 29%, though still 9 points below the state. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 rankings also vary: Elementary was at the 52nd percentile, Middle at the 27th, and High at the 17th.

Reported scores rose from 2024–25 to 2025–26 at all three schools in ELA and math, though gains were modest at Middle: ELA increased by 10 points at Elementary, 2 at Middle, and 9 at High; math increased by 4, 1, and 9 points, respectively. The average gap to the state narrowed in both subjects, but results remain below state levels at several schools and grades. SchoolDigger’s latest percentile ranking improved from the prior year for each school, while High’s 17th-percentile position remains below its 55th-percentile ranking in 2023–24. School profiles differ in other ways, too: student–teacher ratios range from 7.6 at High to 10.4 at Elementary, and reported free/reduced-lunch rates range from 63% to 76%; these are observations, not explanations for test results. Chronic absenteeism was 28% at High, 18% at Elementary, and 9% at Middle, compared with 18% statewide.