High Schools in Kannapolis City Schools

Kannapolis City Schools, located in Kannapolis, NC, contains a single public high school, A L Brown High, serving grades 9–12 with 1,753 students and no other high school for comparison. This means the school's high school results are also the district's high school results, making A L Brown both the district’s sole high school and the only data point for evaluating high school performance in this area.

A L Brown High is a very large school with virtually universal economic need: 99.83% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. It has consistently ranked near the bottom of North Carolina high schools, sitting in the 8th percentile with 0 out of 5 stars in each of the last three reported school years. Academic proficiency on End-of-Course exams is far below state averages in all subjects. The most severe weakness is Math I, with only 7.7% proficient versus 42.1% statewide. Biology (26.5%), English II (42.0%), and Math III (36.4%) also trail the state by roughly 22–34 percentage points. The graduation rate, however, is a relative bright spot at 89.1%, just above the state average of 88.8%, despite chronic absenteeism of 29.0% — higher than both the district (24.7%) and state (24.2%). Per-student spending was reported at $9,314 for 2018–2019, and the student-teacher ratio is 18.6.

The standout takeaway is the stark gap between graduation and proficiency: most students graduate, yet over 90% are not proficient in Math I, suggesting many leave without mastering core academic content. Chronic absenteeism affects nearly 3 in 10 students, which is a likely contributor to low test scores. The data do show some encouraging year-over-year gains in Biology (+5.1 points), English II (+4.2), and Math III (+0.9), but Math I declined slightly, and all proficiency levels remain far below state norms. Because there is only one high school, improving A L Brown High is effectively the same as improving the entire district’s high school outcomes — a major challenge given the school’s persistent bottom-tier ranking and overwhelmingly high-poverty student population.