Best High Schools in Zip Code 28215

Zip code 28215 contains exactly one listed high school: Cochrane Collegiate Academy, a 6–12 school serving 854 students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district. Since no other high schools appear in the zip code, families cannot compare Cochrane to nearby local schools; instead, district and state averages serve as the best reference points.

Cochrane is a very high-poverty school—99.65% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch—but it posts a 92.5% graduation rate, above the CMS district rate of 87.9% and the state rate of 88.8%. It also outperforms both benchmarks in advanced math: 78.3% of students were proficient on Math III versus 69.4% in the district and 68.9% statewide. The middle grades tell a much different story, though. Only 16.9% of 8th graders scored proficient in math (compared to about 53% statewide) and 26.4% in reading (versus 56% statewide). Chronic absenteeism is another concern, affecting 31.9% of students versus 26.8% in the district and 24.2% statewide.

There is encouraging news in the trend data: Cochrane posted large proficiency gains from 2024-25 to 2025-26 in nearly every subject, including 8th-grade science (28% to 50.3%), 6th-grade reading (19.1% to 38.8%), and Math I (18% to 34.8%). These gains reflect different cohorts of students rather than the same group improving, but the broad upward movement is still notable. State ranking also rebounded from the 24th percentile in 2024-25 back to the 35th percentile in 2025-26, matching its 2023-24 level and suggesting last year's dip was the outlier. In short, this is a school with a strong graduation rate and impressive advanced math results, but also with significant academic challenges in the middle grades and high chronic absenteeism. Families should weigh these strengths and struggles together when evaluating Cochrane Collegiate Academy.