Best Public Schools in Zip Code 28056

Zip code 28056 in Gastonia, NC is served by four public schools in Gaston County Schools — three elementary schools and one high school — enrolling about 2,800 students total. The elementary schools are New Hope Elementary, W A Bess Elementary, and Robinson Elementary; Forestview High is the sole high school. While the district ranks slightly below the statewide midpoint, this zip code contains a wide range of school performance.

New Hope is the academic leader, ranking in the 86th percentile statewide with 4 stars and exceeding state proficiency in every elementary subject and grade. It also has the lowest poverty rate and the lowest chronic absenteeism (7.8%) in the group. W A Bess is the most impressive high-poverty success story: despite over 99% free/reduced lunch eligibility, it ranks in the 82nd percentile and has improved sharply from the 62nd to the 82nd percentile over three years. It also beats state averages across all tested elementary subjects. Robinson Elementary, in contrast, is the lowest-ranked school in the zip code (39th percentile), with reading and math mostly below district and state averages — even though it has the smallest class sizes and highest per-student spending. Its one clear bright spot is 5th-grade science, where 77.5% of students are proficient, above both district and state levels.

Forestview High sits near the middle statewide (43rd percentile) with a graduation rate of 88.5% and a notable strength in Math I. However, its chronic absenteeism rate of 30.9% is a serious red flag — about one in three students is chronically absent. Poverty is high across most schools here, but the contrast between W A Bess and Robinson shows that high poverty does not determine results. The gap between the two strong elementary schools and Robinson is large — for example, 85.9% of New Hope 4th graders are proficient in math versus 53.7% at Robinson. There is no middle school listed within the zip code, so families should look beyond this data to understand the full middle-school experience. Overall, 28056 offers two excellent elementary options and one high-performing high-poverty school, but families should weigh the high school’s absenteeism issue and the lack of a local middle school.