Best High Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina high schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOC test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 640)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
370432001713	521	North Stanly High	Public	9-12	40206 US Hwy 52 N	New London	28127	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 961-4600	591	35	16.6	49.2%	440 (74.5%)	62 (10.5%)	40 (6.8%)	14 (2.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (5.8%)	$8,783			$580			$8,203	19.5	23	494	27
370120000498	522	James Kenan High	Public	9-12	1241 Nc 24 & 50	Warsaw	28398	Duplin County	Duplin County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 293-4218	784	47	16.6	99.6%	115 (14.7%)	231 (29.5%)	407 (51.9%)	5 (0.6%)	4 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	20 (2.6%)	$9,706			$964			$8,742	19.1	16	536	14
370201003542	523	Harnett Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	108 LaFayette School Road	Fuquay Varina	27526	Wake County	Harnett County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(919) 552-0769	122	0		60.7%	47 (38.5%)	41 (33.6%)	24 (19.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (7.4%)								19	32.3	415	108
370120000505	524	Wallace-Rose Hill High	Public	9-12	602 High School Road	Teachey	28464	Duplin County	Duplin County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 285-7501	807	41	19.5	99.4%	175 (21.7%)	223 (27.6%)	382 (47.3%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (2.7%)	$12,968			$891			$12,077	18.8	11.8	563	39
370002702112	525	Carter G. Woodson School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	437 Goldfloss Street	Winston Salem	27127	Forsyth County	Carter G Woodson School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(336) 723-6838	451	17	26.1	95.1%	3 (0.7%)	168 (37.3%)	268 (59.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.2%)								18.8	29.3	436	89
370306003515	526	Montgomery Central High	Public	9-12	770 Timberwolf Drive	Troy	27371	Montgomery County	Montgomery County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 556-5500	893	46	19.3	73.1%	354 (39.6%)	171 (19.1%)	314 (35.2%)	14 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	39 (4.4%)								18.6	19.9	508	18
370053002975	527	Performance Learning Center	Public	6-12	4521 Weddington Road	Concord	28027	Cabarrus County	Cabarrus County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 260-6800	95	7	14.5	58.9%	48 (50.5%)	22 (23.2%)	17 (17.9%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (7.4%)	$10,998			$489			$10,509	18.6	10.9	572	45
370192000821	528	Eastern Guilford High	Public	9-12	415 Peeden Drive	Gibsonville	27249	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 449-6311	1,198	78	15.3	67.4%	200 (16.7%)	643 (53.7%)	226 (18.9%)	63 (5.3%)	4 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	61 (5.1%)	$9,137			$961			$8,176	18.1	15.1	540	12
370058000241	529	West Caldwell High	Public	9-12	300 W Caldwell Drive	Lenoir	28645	Caldwell County	Caldwell County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 758-5583	753	47	15.8	67.9%	452 (60.0%)	82 (10.9%)	161 (21.4%)	4 (0.5%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (6.9%)	$11,229			$831			$10,398	17.9	23.7	490	39
370393002239	530	Red Springs High	Public	9-12	509 N Vance Street	Red Springs	28377	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 843-4211	851	48	17.7	99.6%	32 (3.8%)	169 (19.9%)	308 (36.2%)	3 (0.4%)	291 (34.2%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (5.6%)	$11,416			$1,497			$9,918	17.9	24.8	477	53

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOC Biology, EOC English II, EOC Math I, EOC Math III test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 4, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.