Best High Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina high schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOC test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2023 vs 2022)
ID	Rank (of 626)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2023)	Average Standard Score (2022)	Rank (2022)	Rank Change from 2022	SchoolDigger Rating (2023)
370162003217	1	Gaston Early College High School	Public	9-12	201 Hwy 321 South	Dallas	28034	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 922-2405	238	10	23.8	23.9%	149 (62.6%)	26 (10.9%)	48 (20.2%)	5 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.2%)	$7,351			$466			$6,886	96.8	97.1	5	4
370192003242	2	STEM Early College @ NC A&T SU	Public	9-12	402 Laurel Street	Greensboro	27411	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 370-8580	192	9	20.8	11.5%	49 (25.5%)	72 (37.5%)	10 (5.2%)	44 (22.9%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	15 (7.8%)	$10,069			$194			$9,874	96.8	96.5	10	8
370069002753	3	Challenger Early College High	Public	9-12	2550 Hwy 70 SE	Hickory	28602	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 485-2980	344	14	24.6	27.9%	156 (45.3%)	10 (2.9%)	94 (27.3%)	55 (16.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	28 (8.1%)	$6,093			$246			$5,847	96.4	97.3	3
370231003087	4	Crossroads Arts Sciences Early College	Public	9-12	476 N Center St	Statesville	28677	Iredell County	Iredell-Statesville Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 978-0034	271	9	30.8	24.0%	156 (57.6%)	42 (15.5%)	44 (16.2%)	15 (5.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (5.2%)	$7,670			$103			$7,567	96.3	95	29	25
370075003406	5	Chatham School of Science & Engineering	Public	9-12	501 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd	Siler City	27344	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 663-5899	97	0		10.3%	65 (67.0%)	10 (10.3%)	11 (11.3%)	4 (4.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (7.2%)	$2,517			$114			$2,403	96.3	97.4	2	3
370204002873	6	Haywood Early College	Public	9-12	185 Freedlander Drive	Clyde	28721	Haywood County	Haywood County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 565-4000	191	8	23.8	30.4%	163 (85.3%)	3 (1.6%)	13 (6.8%)	3 (1.6%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.2%)	$7,730			$690			$7,040	96.3	97.1	4	2
370033003011	7	Beaufort County Early College High	Public	9-12	5337 Hwy 264 East	Washington	27889	Beaufort County	Beaufort County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 940-6227	281	8	35.1	40.9%	117 (41.6%)	57 (20.3%)	94 (33.5%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (4.3%)	$6,887			$372			$6,515	96.1	95.7	20	13
370462002893	8	Union County Early College	Public	9-12	4209A Old Charlotte Hwy	Monroe	28110	Union County	Union County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 290-1565	355	15	24.4	22.0%	179 (50.4%)	29 (8.2%)	117 (33.0%)	16 (4.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (3.7%)	$7,707			$125			$7,583	96.1	92.7	49	41
370045003320	9	Nesbitt Discovery Academy	Public	9-12	175 Bingham Rd Ste 10	Asheville	28806	Buncombe County	Buncombe County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 271-4521	379	19	19.8	13.2%	314 (82.8%)	8 (2.1%)	27 (7.1%)	18 (4.7%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	10 (2.6%)	$7,222			$451			$6,771	96	96.1	14	5
370162003563	10	Gaston Early College of Medical Sciences	Public	9-12	300 Rhodes Perimeter Drive	Dallas	28034	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 923-8480	79	7	11.2	29.1%	37 (46.8%)	13 (16.5%)	14 (17.7%)	8 (10.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (8.9%)								96	97.5	1	9

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOC Biology, EOC English II, EOC Math I, EOC Math III test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 6, 2023, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

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Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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. School Attendance Areas provided by ATTOM.