NCES CCD 2024-25 14 schools NC

Best-Resourced Schools in Garner, NC

Compiled from official source data by .

14 public K-12 schools in Garner from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
14
Schools
11,877
Students
39.8/100
Avg Resource Index
14.6:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Garner has more public-school enrollment than 84% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Garner sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

9 of Garner's 14 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 18-point gap between Timber Drive Elementary and South Garner High shows the range hidden by Garner's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 16%
School count
Top 25%
Resource Index average
45th percentile
Teacher staffing
60th percentile

South Garner High accounts for 15.5% of all Garner public-school enrollment

That concentration means Garner-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Garner school enrollment varies 4.8× across entities

Garner school enrollment ranges from 381 students (lowest) to 1,835 students (highest), a spread of 1,454 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Garner reports 52.7% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Garner student-teacher ratio is 14.6:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Garner is typically wider than the Garner-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Timber Drive Elementary 50
2. Rand Road Elementary 47
3. Vandora Springs Elementary 45
4. North Garner Middle 43
5. East Garner Elementary 43
6. West View Elementary 41
7. Creech Road Elementary 41
8. Polenta Elementary 40
9. Bryan Road Elementary 38
10. Garner High 35
11. Aversboro Elementary 35
12. East Garner Middle 34
13. Cleveland Middle 33
14. South Garner High 32

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Garner

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Bryan Road Elementary 75.2/100
  2. 2 Timber Drive Elementary 71.0/100
  3. 3 Aversboro Elementary 71.0/100
  4. 4 West View Elementary 70.8/100
  5. 5 Vandora Springs Elementary 70.5/100

What do families ask about schools in Garner?

Which Garner school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Timber Drive Elementary has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Garner schools in this federal-data comparison at 50/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Garner, NC? ▼

Garner has 14 public schools with a total enrollment of 11,877 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 14.6:1.

Other Cities in North Carolina

Charlotte
176 schools
Raleigh
99 schools
Greensboro
83 schools
Durham
68 schools
Fayetteville
68 schools
Winston Salem
64 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in North Carolina →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.