High Schools in Cherokee 01

The Cherokee 01 school district in South Carolina is home to two high schools—Gaffney High and Blacksburg High—serving grades 9 through 12 in a district that ranks in the bottom quarter of the state.

For parents, the most striking takeaway is the dramatic performance gap between the two schools. Blacksburg High, with just 482 students, is the clear standout. It boasts a 91% graduation rate compared to Gaffney High's 79.6%, and its dropout rate is less than half of Gaffney's. Blacksburg also outperforms Gaffney on every single subject test, including a 59.55% proficiency in English 1 versus Gaffney's 40.56%, and an 88.88% proficiency in English 2, which actually exceeds the state average. Blacksburg's state ranking has surged 59 positions in one year, now sitting in the 61st percentile, while Gaffney has slipped to the bottom 11% of all South Carolina high schools. A key factor appears to be class size: Blacksburg has a 13.3-to-1 student-teacher ratio versus Gaffney's 17.7-to-1, despite nearly identical per-student funding.

However, the data also reveals some surprising contradictions. Despite its superior academic results, Blacksburg High actually has a higher chronic absenteeism rate (34.2%) than Gaffney High (26.3%), suggesting that smaller class sizes and stronger relationships may help students succeed even with missed days. Meanwhile, Gaffney faces a serious math crisis—its Algebra 1 proficiency plummeted from 42% to 29% in one year, less than half the state average. Both schools show relative strength in English 2, but the 20-point gap in U.S. History proficiency between the two schools highlights how much school-level factors matter. For district leadership, the central question is what Blacksburg is doing differently that Gaffney could replicate, since the data proves improvement is possible even within the same district and with similar resources.