Best High Schools in North Carolina for Gifted and Talented Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in North Carolina!

Every year, the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Gifted and Talented students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (Gifted and Talented vs All Students - 2024)
ID	Rank (of 403)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Gifted and Talented)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Gifted and Talented)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
370039003477	1	Bladen Early College	Public	9-12	7418 NC Highway 41 West	Dublin	28332	Bladen County	Bladen County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 876-6654	128	5	23.6	97.7%	66 (51.6%)	13 (10.2%)	40 (31.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.7%)	$17,774			$487			$17,287	99.8%	88.0%	11.78%
370192002629	1	Early College at Guilford	Public	9-12	5608 West Friendly Avenue	Greensboro	27410	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 316-2860	192	9	22.5	10.9%	55 (28.6%)	23 (12.0%)	6 (3.1%)	99 (51.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.7%)	$10,526			$188			$10,337	99.8%	99.4%	0.38%
370472003192	3	Wake STEM Early College High School	Public	9-12	2205 Walnut Street	Cary	27518	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 694-8130	282	15	19.4	38.7%	95 (33.7%)	47 (16.7%)	77 (27.3%)	53 (18.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (3.5%)	$10,774			$232			$10,542	99.3%	93.3%	5.97%
370001102757	4	Cumberland Polytechnic	Public	9-12	220 Hull Rd	Fayetteville	28303	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 486-7300	304	13	23.9	43.8%	110 (36.2%)	109 (35.9%)	43 (14.1%)	8 (2.6%)	3 (1.0%)	3 (1.0%)	28 (9.2%)	$8,770			$513			$8,257	99.0%	95.3%	3.69%
370210000915	5	East Henderson High	Public	9-12	150 Eagle Pride Drive	East Flat Rock	28726	Henderson County	Henderson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 697-4768	968	61	15.8	99.1%	500 (51.7%)	20 (2.1%)	379 (39.2%)	4 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	17 (1.8%)	47 (4.9%)	$9,768			$724			$9,044	98.8%	42.8%	55.95%
370075003406	6	Chatham Early College	Public	9-12	501 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd	Siler City	27344	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 663-5899	105	0		40.0%	62 (59.0%)	9 (8.6%)	26 (24.8%)	4 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.8%)	$2,517			$114			$2,403	98.5%	99.8%	1.33%
370069002753	7	Challenger Early College High	Public	9-12	2550 Hwy 70 SE	Hickory	28602	Catawba County	Catawba County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 485-2980	362	15	23.7	47.2%	140 (38.7%)	10 (2.8%)	114 (31.5%)	62 (17.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	35 (9.7%)	$6,093			$246			$5,847	98.3%	96.7%	1.54%
370063002369	8	Croatan High	Public	9-12	1 Cougar Lane	Newport	28570	Carteret County	Carteret County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 393-7022	1,015	61	16.7	29.0%	856 (84.3%)	11 (1.1%)	87 (8.6%)	15 (1.5%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	42 (4.1%)	$9,671			$682			$8,989	98.0%	81.4%	16.61%
370432002890	9	Stanly Early College High	Public	9-12	141 College Drive	Albemarle	28001	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 961-4400	194	8	24	38.7%	151 (77.8%)	9 (4.6%)	20 (10.3%)	9 (4.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.6%)	$7,609			$364			$7,245	97.8%	90.6%	7.14%
370126003112	10	City of Medicine Academy	Public	9-12	301 Crutchfield Road	Durham	27704	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 560-2001	336	23	14.4	62.8%	25 (7.4%)	135 (40.2%)	155 (46.1%)	12 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.7%)	$12,056			$1,005			$11,051	97.5%	82.5%	15.02%

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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.