High Schools in Jackson County Public Schools

The Jackson County Public Schools district in North Carolina is home to four high schools, each with its own unique strengths and challenges. While the Jackson County Early College stands out as a top-performing school in the state, the other high schools in the district, such as Smoky Mountain High School, Blue Ridge Early College, and Jackson Community School, face varying degrees of academic performance and resource challenges.

The Jackson County Early College stands out as the top-performing school in the district, ranking among the top 103 high schools in North Carolina and earning a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger. This school boasts exceptional test scores, with proficiency rates as high as 100% in English II and 96.8% in Math III. However, it also has a relatively high student-teacher ratio of 25.2, which may be a concern. In contrast, the Blue Ridge Early College has a much lower student-teacher ratio of 10.5, but its overall academic performance is lower, with a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

The data also reveals significant disparities in academic performance and resource allocation within the district. The Jackson Community School stands out as the lowest-performing school, with only 11.8% proficiency in Biology and 25% proficiency in English II, despite having the highest spending per student at $26,010. This suggests that simply allocating more resources may not be the sole solution to improving academic outcomes. The demographic differences among the schools, such as the higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students at the Blue Ridge Early College and Jackson Community School, may also be contributing factors to the varying academic performance across the district.