Best Public Schools in Mills River, NC

Summary:

The city of Mills River, North Carolina is home to two elementary schools: Mills River Elementary and Glenn C Marlow Elementary. Both schools serve students from low-income families, with over 99% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

Based on the available data, Glenn C Marlow Elementary appears to be the standout school in the area. It is ranked 89th out of 1,490 North Carolina elementary schools for the 2024-2025 school year, significantly higher than Mills River Elementary's 199th ranking. Glenn C Marlow Elementary also consistently receives the highest 5-star rating from SchoolDigger, while Mills River Elementary is rated 4 stars. Additionally, Glenn C Marlow Elementary outperforms the district and state averages on standardized test scores across multiple grade levels and subject areas.

While Mills River Elementary is not as high-performing as its counterpart, it has shown steady improvement in its statewide rankings over the past few years, moving from 171st in 2022-2023 to 199th in 2024-2025. This suggests the school is making progress and may be worth further investigation to understand the factors contributing to its improvement. Overall, the data highlights the strong performance of Glenn C Marlow Elementary, which appears to be a high-quality school effectively serving its students despite the challenges of a high-poverty student population.

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2025)				Ranking (2024)				EOG Mathematics (2025)			EOG Reading (2025)			EOG Science (2025)	Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Statewide Rank (2024)	State Percentile (2024)	Rank Change from Previous Year	EOG Mathematics 3rd Grade	EOG Mathematics 4th Grade	EOG Mathematics 5th Grade	EOG Reading 3rd Grade	EOG Reading 4th Grade	EOG Reading 5th Grade	EOG Science 5th Grade	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Mills River Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	94 School House Road	Mills River	28759	Henderson County	Henderson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 891-6563	608	39	15.5	40.6%	497 (81.7%)	7 (1.2%)	76 (12.5%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	22 (3.6%)	83.2	199^th of 1490 public elementary schools	86.6%		82.7	208^th of 1505 public elementary schools	86.2%	9	78.7	70.4	81.9	62.0	70.4	64.9	81.9	$9,074	$912	$8,162
Glenn C Marlow Elementary	Public	K-5	1985 Butler Bridge Road	Mills River	28759	Henderson County	Henderson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 654-3225	562	35	15.9	30.2%	443 (78.8%)	18 (3.2%)	58 (10.3%)	18 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.9%)	20 (3.6%)	91.3	89^th of 1490 public elementary schools	94.0%		92.9	71^st of 1505 public elementary schools	95.3%	18	91.0	76.1	83.1	83.1	75.3	72.0	84.7	$9,247	$669	$8,577

Cities Near Mills River

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Fletcher	0.29 mi	3	126^th
Arden	3.33 mi	3	166^th
Hendersonville	3.92 mi	14	174^th
Asheville	4.87 mi	34	247^th
Fairview	8.61 mi	1	23^rd

See the top NC North Carolina cities

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.