About Charlotte Schools

Charlotte, NC

Charlotte Schools- Good Choices

Public schools, private schools, charter schools, magnet schools,  intown, out of town, elementary, or high schools, you’ll find great possibilities in the greater Charlotte area.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (background)

Any discussion of Charlotte Schools begins with Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, perennially the largest, or 2nd largest in the state of North Carolina,a school system that stretches from the shores of Lake Norman to the NC side of Lake Wylie.

Charlotte’s fast growth over the last decade has strained the school system budget and facilities- but with Superintendent Pete Gorman, test scores, and a host of other metrics, have improved dramatically.  They are results driven.

To it’s critics, it can never do enough. Many never forgave the schools for some very old issues… to some CMS was entirely too progressive enforcing a busing order in the 1970’s. In others, living in lower income areas, the schools cna not do enough. In equity, there remains a  persistent gap. The school system has excellent, average and below average schools, like all the neighboring school systems.

In the latest Newsweek Top 1300 high schools in America, Charlotte, CMS had 4 in the Top 200. It also consistently ranks high in the NAEP tests for Urban school districts- Charlotte’s “poorest schools” tested at the highest levels in 4th and 8th grade reading and math compared to 20 other big city school systems.
Our highest performing schools do well, and our lowest do much better than most- but in the middle, there is vast room for improvement

Many come to Charlotte and choose Union County or Fort Mill Schools- these too have highly regarded schools near the Mecklenburg County border and we have many families happy there.

There is a collection of excellent private schools, mostly in the South Charlotte area, and you can find direct links to them at the CharlotteCommunities link below.

Charlotte School Resources

The State of North Carolina publishes an extremely useful and reliable site where you can check the results of student achievement at every public K-12 school in the state. There you see detailed information on enrollment, teacher- student ratios, test results, and much, much more at www.NCreportcards.org.

For additional school information, including links to all the private and public, try this site  CharlotteCommunities/CharlotteSchools

Last but not least, if schools are important to you, then leave some time for school visits–there is an open door policy at the Public schools, and with a phone call you can make an appointment speak to an administrator.

I encourage local visits, and love to hear the results of your search as parents uncover hidden gems on a regular  basis.

My latest reports are in the posts at the bottom, and new results in the Newsweek poll and NAEP were just recently announced, with more measurable results for CMS.