Harnett County Early College

Harnett County Early College is a small public early college high school in Dunn, NC, serving about 185 students in grades 9–12 through Harnett County Schools — and despite sitting within a district ranked in the bottom third statewide, the school itself is a top-tier performer, ranked #46 of 662 North Carolina high schools with a 5-star rating.

The academic results are extraordinary, especially in math and science. On state End-of-Course exams, Math III proficiency reached 98%, Math I and Biology both sit near 93%, and English II is at 94%. These scores tower over nearby traditional high schools: Triton High, just a few miles away, posted Math I proficiency of only 27%, while Harnett Central High managed 32% in the same subject. The early college has also improved consistently over the past several years — Biology proficiency jumped from 62% to 93% in three years — so these results are not a one-year fluke.

Perhaps most impressive is the school’s success across student groups. Military-connected students ranked #1 in North Carolina for two straight years, African American and male students each ranked #2, and low-income students sit in the 90th percentile statewide. Chronic absenteeism is far lower than the district norm — 10.7% vs. 33.4% in the most recent comparable year — and gifted student performance jumped from the 58th to 97th percentile over three years. Keep in mind the school is small, so a single cohort can shift percentages, and the student-teacher ratio recently spiked to 34.4. Still, the consistent, multi-year pattern of high achievement across subjects and demographics points to a genuinely effective school.