Best High Schools in Zip Code 28277

Zip code 28277 in the Charlotte, North Carolina area contains two public high schools serving grades 9 through 12 — Ardrey Kell High School and Ballantyne Ridge High School — both within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district, which holds a 3-star rating and ranks 105th out of 246 districts statewide.

For the 2025-2026 school year, Ardrey Kell ranks 112th out of 662 North Carolina high schools (83rd percentile, 4 stars) and posts higher End-of-Course proficiency rates than Ballantyne Ridge in every subject tested. The widest gap is in Math I, with Ardrey Kell at 73.7% proficiency versus 45.7% at Ballantyne Ridge. Ardrey Kell also leads in Biology (85.4% vs. 69.3%), English II (88.5% vs. 79.6%), and Math III (87.7% vs. 76.6%). Still, Ballantyne Ridge — the newer and smaller school at 1,414 students compared to Ardrey Kell's 3,036 — exceeds district and state averages in all four EOC tests and carries a 3-star rating with a state rank of 217 out of 662 (67th percentile). It also posts a very strong 92.9% graduation rate, above the district's 87.9% and the state's 88.8%; Ardrey Kell's current graduation rate is not reported in this data, although its 2017-2018 rate was 95.0%.

The schools also differ in socioeconomic and operational metrics. Ardrey Kell has an economically advantaged profile, with 14.72% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch versus 40.45% at Ballantyne Ridge, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 16.1% is lower than Ballantyne Ridge's 25.0%. Ballantyne Ridge, however, has a lower student-teacher ratio (16.9 vs. 20.8), meaning more teachers per student. Ballantyne Ridge also shows momentum, with strong year-over-year gains in English II (+13.7 points) and Math I (+14.5 points), while Ardrey Kell improved 13.4 points in Math I but slipped slightly in Math III. Families considering these options should weigh Ardrey Kell's strong and consistent academic record against Ballantyne Ridge's solid performance, high graduation rate, and promise of continued growth.