Summary:
Highlander has two charter schools serving prekindergarten through grade 12: Highlander Elementary Charter serves PK–6, and Highlander Secondary Charter S serves grades 7–12. In 2025–26, both schools’ all-grades proficiency rates were below state results in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science. The most important area-wide finding is that both schools trail the state in every reported subject, with the largest average gap in mathematics: 22 percentage points.
The schools have different subject strengths, and neither leads across the board. Elementary has higher all-grades ELA proficiency than Secondary, 15.3% versus 9.4%, and higher science proficiency, 22.2% versus 10.0%; Secondary leads in mathematics, 13.5% versus 6.3%. Even the stronger result in each subject remains below the state. SchoolDigger ranks Secondary higher overall: 42nd of 58 schools, in the 28th percentile with 2 stars, compared with Elementary at 137th of 163, in the 16th percentile with 1 star. One notable grade-level bright spot is Elementary’s Grade 6 ELA, 27.8% compared with 31.4% statewide; some of the largest gaps include Elementary Grade 4 mathematics, below 5% versus 35.1%, and Secondary Grade 10 PSAT10 ELA, 25.7% versus 56.0%.
Recent test-score changes are mixed rather than consistently improving or declining. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, Secondary rose 8.3 percentage points in mathematics but fell 2.2 in ELA; Elementary fell 2.0 in mathematics and 1.4 in ELA, while its science result declined 2.8 points. SchoolDigger’s three-year percentiles also fluctuate: Secondary went from 28 to 25 to 28, and Elementary from 11 to 19 to 16. For practical comparisons, Elementary has a lower student–teacher ratio (12.8 versus 15.4) and lower free/reduced-lunch rate (84.39% versus 87.35%); Secondary has 71 more students and reported spending $767 more per student. Secondary’s 84.0% graduation rate is a positive counterpoint, above the district’s 80.4% but below the state’s 85.5%. The schools serve different grades, so their overall results are not a same-grade comparison.
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