Best High Schools in Zip Code 23831

ZIP code 23831 in Chester, Virginia, is served by two public high schools—Thomas Dale High and Carver College and Career Academy—both offering grades 9 through 12 under Chesterfield County Public Schools. These two schools could hardly be more different. Thomas Dale is a large, comprehensive high school with about 2,582 students and a graduation rate of 91.6%, ranking in the 37th percentile statewide. Carver is a much smaller, specialized academy with only 272 students and a graduation rate of just 25.1%, placing it in the bottom 2% of Virginia high schools. While Thomas Dale is clearly the stronger performer, Carver’s extremely low outcomes suggest it serves a highly at-risk population, likely in an alternative or career academy model.

Looking at academics, Thomas Dale posts solid SOL proficiency rates in Algebra I, Biology, English Reading, and Virginia/U.S. History, often exceeding district and state averages. For example, 12th graders scored 100% in Algebra I and 89.8% in English Reading. Carver, by contrast, mostly trails far behind, but does show occasional bright spots like 91.7% proficiency in 11th-grade Biology. One of the biggest differentiators is attendance: Thomas Dale’s chronic absenteeism rate is 18.7%, already above the state average, but Carver’s is a staggering 57.8%—meaning more than half of Carver students are chronically absent, which helps explain its low test scores and high dropout rate.

Perhaps most striking is that Carver spends $20,496 per student—more than 2.5 times Thomas Dale’s $7,999—and has a much smaller student-teacher ratio, yet its results are dramatically worse. Both schools have nearly identical free/reduced lunch rates (74.2% vs. 75.4%), so poverty alone does not explain the gap. Thomas Dale has also been improving, climbing from the 26th to the 37th percentile over the past few years, while Carver remains stuck in the bottom 5%. For parents, Thomas Dale offers a much stronger academic environment and higher graduation rates, while Carver appears to be a high-need option with severe attendance and engagement challenges.