Middle Schools in Asheville City Schools

The Asheville City Schools district in North Carolina is home to two middle schools: Asheville Middle and Montford North Star Academy. While both schools serve grades 6-8, Montford North Star Academy stands out as the higher-performing institution, consistently outranking Asheville Middle and the district as a whole on academic measures.

Montford North Star Academy boasts a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger, compared to Asheville Middle's 3-star rating, and ranks 143rd out of 793 North Carolina middle schools, significantly higher than Asheville Middle's 287th ranking. This academic excellence is reflected in Montford North Star Academy's stronger proficiency rates in mathematics, reading, and science on the End-of-Grade (EOG) tests, as well as its lower percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a potentially more advantaged student population.

Despite Asheville Middle's larger student enrollment of 589 students, compared to Montford North Star Academy's 224 students, the smaller school appears to provide a higher-quality educational experience, with higher per-student spending and a slightly higher student-teacher ratio. These factors, combined with the demographic differences between the two schools, suggest that further investigation is needed to understand the root causes of the performance gap and ensure equitable access to quality education across the Asheville City Schools district.