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Best High Schools in Zip Code 28721

At a glance

School

177

Students

5-star school

Top rankedHaywood Early College8^th of 662 North Carolina high schools

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Biggest riser

Haywood Early College up 12 spots statewide this year

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Summary:

Zip code 28721 in North Carolina is served by one high school, Haywood Early College, a small grades 9–12 school in Clyde within Haywood County Schools. Haywood Early College is the only high school option in this zip code, meaning families considering this area should evaluate it against the broader Haywood County district and statewide averages.

Haywood Early College is a standout performer with a 5-star rating and a position among the very best high schools in North Carolina. It ranked 8th in the state in both 2025–2026 and 2023–2024, and 20th in 2024–2025, never falling below the 97th percentile. Its End-of-Course test results are extraordinary: for 2025–26, it reports 100% proficiency in Biology, English II, Math I, and Math III, compared with district rates ranging from 65.7% to 81.4% and state rates from 42.1% to 68.9%. The most dramatic gap is in Math I, where the school outperforms the state by nearly 58 percentage points. These results are especially notable given that 98.31% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this a high-achieving school in a high-poverty context. The school also posts a lower chronic absenteeism rate (14.0%) than its district (19.9%) or the state (24.2%), and its 94.9% graduation rate exceeds recent district and state figures.

Parents should interpret these results with the school’s small size in mind. With only 177 students, 100% proficiency can be influenced by a small testing cohort, though the consistency of elite rankings over multiple years suggests strong, sustained systems rather than a one-year anomaly. One unusual data point is the student-teacher ratio of 39.4:1, which is very high for a high-performing school; early college models often rely on college faculty for many courses, which may reduce the count of traditional high school teachers. Haywood County Schools itself is above average, ranked 64th out of 246 districts in North Carolina, but Haywood Early College clearly elevates the educational profile of this rural area.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				EOC Biology (2026)	EOC English II (2026)	EOC Math I (2026)	EOC Math III (2026)	Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/reduced lunch	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	EOC Biology End of Course	EOC English II End of Course	EOC Math I End of Course	EOC Math III End of Course	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Haywood Early College	Public	9-12	185 Freedlander Drive	Clyde	28721	Haywood County	Haywood County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 565-4000	177	4	39.4		151 (85.3%)	1 (0.6%)	16 (9.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (5.1%)	94.7	8^th of 662 public high schools	98.8%		95.4	20^th of 641 public high schools	96.9%	12	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	$7,730	$690	$7,040

Cities Near Zip Code 28721

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Clyde	1.1 mi	3	34^th
Waynesville	2.3 mi	8	210^th
Canton	3.99 mi	5	133^rd
Candler	10.62 mi	6	249^th
Leicester	14.36 mi	1	123^rd

See the top NC North Carolina cities

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.