Schools in Zip Code 28021

Zip code 28021 is served by four public schools in Gaston County Schools — spanning elementary through high school with a combined 1,465 students — and every school in the cluster has a free/reduced-price lunch rate above 98%, making this a high-poverty area where the district overall ranks in the 41st percentile statewide.

The strongest school is Cherryville High, the only 3-star school in the zip code, earning a 52nd percentile rank and a 91.9% graduation rate. Its Math I EOC proficiency of 65.7% far exceeds the state's 42.1%. John Chavis Middle School stands out for 8th-grade science, with 73.7% proficient, well above district and state averages, but its overall rank has slipped to the 43rd percentile. Among elementary schools, W B Beam Intermediate School has the best attendance in the area at just 16.1% chronic absenteeism and posts above-district 4th-grade reading, while Cherryville Elementary shows strong 3rd-grade math (65% or higher) but continues to trail the state in reading.

Across the feeder pattern, math proficiency holds up much better against state averages than reading does, making reading the clearest instructional target. Chronic absenteeism is relatively low at the elementary level (16-18%) but jumps to about 27% at middle and high school, a concern tied to achievement. Test scores can swing sharply year to year, as seen in Cherryville High's Math I jump from 39.8% to 65.7%, so multiple years of data matter. While the district sits below the state median, Cherryville High has broken away as an improving 3-star school, even as the middle and intermediate schools have declined from 3 stars to 2. For parents, this means a high-poverty community can still produce strong subject-level outcomes, especially in math and science, but reading proficiency and upper-grade attendance need attention.