Charlotte region’s best public high school is not in Charlotte, US News says
Three neighborhood schools and two charter schools in Charlotte’s suburbs made U.S. News & World Report’s list of the 500 best high schools in America, with Union County’s Marvin Ridge High topping the local ratings.
The magazine’s annual report rated more than 22,000 public high schools based on state exam performance (disadvantaged students had to outperform state averages for inclusion), graduation rates and participation and performance on Advanced Placement tests. The top 500 earned gold medal status.
Marvin Ridge in Waxhaw moved up from 505th place last year to 275th in 2017, moving past Lake Norman Charter School in Huntersville, which is No. 325.
Two south suburban Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, Ardrey Kell (362) and Providence (369), made the gold medal list, along with Community School of Davidson (406), a charter school in north Mecklenburg County.
Guilford County Schools topped the North Carolina list, with Weaver Academy, an arts and advanced technology magnet school, ranked 39th in the nation. Raleigh Charter High was next at 56th, followed by Early College at Guilford, another Guilford magnet school. Early College at Guilford was also listed as the nation’s fourth best high school specializing in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.
U.S. News has been rating high schools since 2007. RTI International, a research firm based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, crunched the numbers for the 2017 list.
The list is designed to recognize excellence in public education, and it always sparks interest among schools competing for bragging rights. Critics say data can’t fully capture the quality of education, and note that high schools serving impoverished neighborhoods seldom make the cut.
Read the full report at www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools
Ann Doss Helms: 704-358-5033, @anndosshelms
Best NC high schools
These schools made the Top 500 in the U.S. News & World Report best high schools list.
School | Type | Location | National rank |
Philip J. Weaver Ed Center | Guilford County Schools | Greensboro | 39 |
Raleigh Charter High School | Charter | Raleigh | 56 |
Early College at Guilford | Guilford County Schools | Greensboro | 62 |
Woods Charter | Charter | Chapel Hill | 104 |
Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy | Charter | Mooresboro | 135 |
East Chapel Hill High | Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools | Chapel Hill | 142 |
School of Inquiry and Life Sciences | Asheville City Schools | Asheville | 159 |
Chapel Hill High | Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools | Chapel Hill | 169 |
Carrboro High | Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools | Carrboro | 246 |
Marvin Ridge High | Union County Schools | Waxhaw | 275 |
Lake Norman Charter | Charter | Huntersville | 325 |
Green Hope High | Wake County Schools | Cary | 356 |
Ardrey Kell High | CMS | Charlotte | 362 |
Providence High | CMS | Charlotte | 369 |
Community School of Davidson | Charter | Davidson | 406 |
Franklin Academy | Charter | Wake Forest | 484 |
This story was originally published April 25, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Charlotte region’s best public high school is not in Charlotte, US News says."