Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 28901

Zip code 28901 is served by a single elementary school, Andrews Elementary, which is part of Cherokee County Schools and serves grades PK through 5 with an enrollment of 330 students. Because this is the only elementary school in the area, its performance defines the entire elementary education landscape for the zip code. The most notable bright spot is 5th-grade science, where 80.4% of students scored proficient in 2025-2026, surpassing both the district (67.2%) and the state (67.7%). In contrast, all math and reading proficiency rates fall below district and state averages, with 4th-grade math the most challenging area at 33.9% proficiency compared to 50.9% in the district and 61.4% statewide.

Andrews Elementary serves an almost entirely economically disadvantaged population, with 99.09% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 14.3 and spends approximately $12,783 per student. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at 32.9% for 2024-2025, which is above the state average of 24.2% but slightly better than the district's 38.7%. In the most recent state ranking, Andrews Elementary placed 1,090th out of 1,492 North Carolina schools, landing in the 27th percentile with a 1-star rating. This represents a notable improvement from the previous year, when the school ranked 1,236th and sat in the 17th percentile, suggesting a positive trajectory even though overall performance remains low.

Academic results at Andrews Elementary can vary sharply from year to year and by grade level. Between 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, 5th-grade science proficiency jumped by 34.9 points and 5th-grade math by 31.1 points, while 4th-grade math and reading dropped by 14.3 and 16.0 points, respectively. These large swings indicate that different cohorts have very different strengths and that a single year's results should be interpreted with caution. The school's strong science performance, coupled with high poverty and elevated absenteeism, paints a complex picture. For families in zip code 28901, Andrews Elementary is the sole option for elementary education, and its recent improvement in state ranking, along with its standout science results, offers some encouraging signs amid ongoing challenges in math and reading.