Summary:
In ZIP code 28025 (Concord, NC), there are four public high schools serving grades 9–12 (plus grades 6–12 at one school), all part of Cabarrus County Schools, a district ranked 67th out of 246 in North Carolina with a 4-star rating. The two large comprehensive high schools — Central Cabarrus High and Concord High — enroll about 92% of the roughly 2,700 students in this ZIP code, while the other two schools are much smaller and more specialized.
Cabarrus Health Sciences Institute is the clear academic standout, ranked #60 in the state with a 5-star rating. It posts far higher EOC proficiency rates: 100% in English II, 96.5% in Math III, and 92.5% in Biology, with only 9.3% chronic absenteeism. In comparison, Central Cabarrus High and Concord High both earn 2 stars and hover near or below state averages in most subjects. Interestingly, Concord High has a 99% free/reduced lunch rate and 34.3% chronic absenteeism, yet its Math I proficiency (45.3%) is above the state average (42.1%). Cabarrus County Opportunity School is an alternative school serving just 41 students with a 4:1 student-teacher ratio and $29,596 per-pupil spending; its low rankings and high absenteeism reflect the intensive needs of its population, so it should not be compared to traditional high schools.
Math I is a bottleneck across all schools, even the Health Sciences Institute (80% proficient). Meanwhile, scores improved notably from 2024-25 to 2025-26 at nearly every school — for example, Central Cabarrus Biology jumped from 36.6% to 58.5%, and Health Sciences Biology rose from 69.4% to 92.5%. For parents, the data suggest that the specialized Cabarrus Health Sciences Institute is in a tier of its own academically, while the two comprehensive high schools offer solid but more mixed results, and Concord High shows that high-poverty schools can still achieve near-state-average math scores.
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