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New rankings released for public high schools in North Carolina

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Students at North Forsyth High School prepare to use First Vote NC. Alli Lindenberg/EdNC

The U.S. News & World Report released its updated lists ranking public North Carolina high schools for 2025. Rankings are based on factors such as student proficiency and performance.

For high school rankings, the following factors are taken into account at various weights: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, and graduation rate.

“At U.S. News, we believe that better education drives the future. We rank high schools across the country to give an unbiased look at how well schools serve their students and help you make informed decisions about your child’s education,” the website’s release said. “We also want to recognize high-performing schools and inspire educators and municipalities to do better.”

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U.S. News says on their website that they measure how high schools serve all of their students, not just those who plan to go to college. In its methodology, which was formed in collaboration with RTI International, college readiness is determined by performance in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and exams.

Public schools that are listed include traditional public schools, magnet schools, charter schools, early colleges, and lab schools.  

A traditional public school is funded by the government, free to attend, and housed within a school district. Magnet schools are schools in districts that cater to a specific subject or skill. 

Charter schools are public and free to attend, but require applications from students to fill limited seats and have more flexibility than traditional public schools. Lab schools, or laboratory schools, test different educational models while allowing student teachers to work.

In North Carolina, there are 115 local public school districts and 2,500+ district public schools, and 200+ charter and lab schools, and one regional school.

While the U.S. News rankings are based on data from the 2022-23 academic year, each school’s individual profile on the U.S News website will be updated with 2024-25 data. Because the individual profiles track different data than the rankings, they include more updated information.

Top 10 public high schools in NC

  1. The Early College at Guilford — Public early college (Guilford County Schools)
  2. The STEM Early College at NC A&T — Public early college (Guilford County Schools)
  3. Onslow Early College High School — Public early college (Onslow County Schools)
  4. Philip J. Weaver Ed Center — Magnet school (Guilford County Schools)
  5. Raleigh Charter High School — Charter school (Raleigh)
  6. Discovery High School — Magnet school (Newton-Conover City Schools)
  7. Martin L. Nesbitt Discovery Academy — Traditional public school (Buncombe County Schools)
  8. Green Level High School — Traditional public school (Wake County Public Schools)
  9. Woods Charter School — Charter school (Chapel Hill)
  10. Wake STEM Early College High School — Public early college (Wake County Public Schools)

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The new rankings also placed 10 of North Carolina’s public charter schools in the top 30 for the state. Dave Machado, executive director of the NC Coalition for Charter Schools, congratulated the schools on their gains.

“Public charter schools offer North Carolina parents the freedom to choose which public school environment is best suited for their children’s unique gifts and personality. They complement, rather than compete with, traditional public schools,” Machado said in a press release. 

Charter schools in the top 30 list

To read the full lists and learn more about each school listed, visit this page.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated the rankings are based on data from the 2023-24 academic year. They are based on data from the 2022-23 academic year.