Best High Schools in North Carolina for Gifted and Talented Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in North Carolina!

Every year, the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Gifted and Talented students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (Gifted and Talented vs All Students - 2023)
ID	Rank (of 403)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Gifted and Talented)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Gifted and Talented)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
370495003125	1	Wilkes Early College High School	Public	9-12	1328 S Collegiate Dr	Wilkesboro	28697	Wilkes County	Wilkes County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 838-6247	253	9	28.1	13.8%	197 (77.9%)	5 (2.0%)	38 (15.0%)	6 (2.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.4%)	$6,729			$458			$6,271	99.8%	91.5%	8.22%
370393002791	2	PSRC Early College at RCC	Public	9-12	5160 Fayetteville Road	Lumberton	28360	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 737-5232	218	10	21.8	50.0%	51 (23.4%)	28 (12.8%)	52 (23.9%)	3 (1.4%)	72 (33.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.5%)	$8,192			$839			$7,353	99.5%	95.8%	3.66%
370075003406	3	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	99.3%	99.2%	0.05%
370405003035	4	Rowan County Early College	Public	9-12	1333 Jake Alexander Blvd S	Salisbury	28146	Rowan County	Rowan-Salisbury Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 216-3873	239	9	25.7	46.0%	96 (40.2%)	28 (11.7%)	94 (39.3%)	11 (4.6%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.8%)	$7,268			$298			$6,970	99.0%	82.3%	16.74%
370001203359	5	PCS Early College High School	Public	9-12	1959 Warren Drive	Winterville	28590	Pitt County	Pitt County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 493-7821	309	14	22.6	99.0%	108 (35.0%)	110 (35.6%)	74 (23.9%)	3 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (4.5%)	$7,489			$876			$6,613	98.8%	97.3%	1.47%
370042002898	6	Brunswick County Early College	Public	9-12	50 College Road NE	Bolivia	28422	Brunswick County	Brunswick County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 756-5030	365	12	31.7	99.2%	245 (67.1%)	29 (7.9%)	60 (16.4%)	10 (2.7%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (5.5%)	$7,807			$809			$6,998	98.5%	93.9%	4.58%
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	98.3%	98.9%	0.62%
370294002809	8	McDowell Early College	Public	9-12	54 College Drive	Marion	28752	McDowell County	McDowell County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 659-0411	254	11	22.5	21.3%	191 (75.2%)	4 (1.6%)	48 (18.9%)	3 (1.2%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.8%)	$7,400			$232			$7,168	98.0%	97.4%	0.57%
370162002521	9	Highland School of Technology	Public, Magnet	9-12	1600 N Morris Street	Gastonia	28052	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(704) 810-8816	533	40	13.4	19.9%	339 (63.6%)	73 (13.7%)	70 (13.1%)	30 (5.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (3.9%)	$10,033			$715			$9,318	97.8%		(n/a)%
370003002972	10	ABSS Early College at ACC	Public	9-12	1247 Jimmie Kerr Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 506-4001	216	9	25.4	19.9%	98 (45.4%)	30 (13.9%)	66 (30.6%)	8 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (6.5%)	$6,280			$165			$6,115	97.5%	96.5%	1.03%

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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 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:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.