Summary
Cherryville High is a midsize public high school in Cherryville, NC, serving about 484 students in grades 9–12 within Gaston County Schools. It earned a 3-star rating in 2025–2026 and ranked #318 out of 662 North Carolina high schools, placing it right around the statewide middle (52nd percentile). That represents a modest improvement over the previous two school years, though the school has not yet returned to its pre-2020 performance level, when it regularly ranked in the top quarter of the state. Cherryville also serves an almost entirely economically disadvantaged student population, with roughly 99% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, making its middling-to-solid results especially notable.
Where Cherryville truly stands out is math. Its Math I End-of-Course proficiency rate hit 65.7% in 2025–2026—well above the Gaston County district average of 49.4% and the state average of 42.1%—and Cherryville has beaten the state in Math I every reported year. In fact, it posted the highest Math I proficiency of any traditional high school in the surrounding area, including Burns High, Kings Mountain High, and West Lincoln High. The comparison is even more striking closer to home: Bessemer City High, a same-district school with similarly high poverty levels, sits at the 12th percentile statewide and posts just 26.6% Math I proficiency. Cherryville also holds a clear edge in English II (59.3% vs. 41.8%) and graduation rate (91.9% vs. 87.1%). Its 91.9% graduation rate also tops both the Gaston County district (90.0%) and North Carolina (88.8%). Cherryville additionally posts strong outcomes for historically underserved groups, including notably high rankings for its African American and special education students on statewide subgroup comparisons.
The school’s main weaknesses are literacy and attendance. English II proficiency, while better than several nearby schools, remains below the state average, and chronic absenteeism (27.4%) affects more than one in four students—above the state mark, though far improved from the 50.3% seen during the pandemic. Meanwhile, gifted and talented students at Cherryville currently rank at the 16th percentile statewide, a sharp drop from prior years and a sign that the school may not be stretching its highest achievers as effectively as it supports other learners. Across the board, Cherryville is outperforming several schools in higher-rated neighboring districts like Cleveland County Schools and Lincoln County Schools. With continued progress on attendance and literacy, Cherryville has a realistic path back toward its earlier, higher-performing status.
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