Summary:
The York 04 district in Fort Mill, South Carolina, is home to three top-performing high schools—Fort Mill High, Nation Ford High, and Catawba Ridge High School—serving grades 9-12 and enrolling a combined 5,740 students.
All three schools are elite by any measure, ranking in the top 10% of South Carolina high schools. Fort Mill High is the district's flagship, ranking #10 in the state with a 97.6% graduation rate and the highest test scores in nearly every subject, including a remarkable 97.95% proficiency in English 2. Catawba Ridge High School is the rising star, jumping from #20 to #13 in two years and posting the district's best Algebra 1 (87.33%) and U.S. History (90.6%) scores. Nation Ford High, while ranked #22, is the consistent performer with the lowest student-to-teacher ratio (13.7:1) and highest per-student spending ($12,919), yet it trails its peers in graduation rate (93.4%) and test scores—its Algebra 1 proficiency (74.17%) barely exceeds the state average.
District-wide, these schools dramatically outperform state averages: graduation rates are 9.1 points higher, dropout rates are nearly 4x lower, and chronic absenteeism (8.5%) is less than 40% of the state rate. However, each school's individual chronic absenteeism rate (11.3% to 13.1%) exceeds the district average, a hidden concern despite stellar academics. English 2 proficiency is exceptionally strong across all three (92-98%), while Algebra 1 remains the relative weakness. Notably, the largest school (Fort Mill High) performs best, challenging the notion that smaller is better. For parents, this district offers a concentration of excellence, with every school providing a top-tier education and a clear path to college readiness.
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