NCES CCD 2024-25 12 schools NC

Best-Resourced Schools in Hillsborough, NC

Compiled from official source data by .

12 public K-12 schools in Hillsborough 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
12
Schools
6,715
Students
49.7/100
Avg Resource Index
13.1:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Broad resource and staffing advantage

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Hillsborough has more public-school enrollment than 68% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Hillsborough lands in the upper national tier on both the average Resource Investment Index and teacher staffing intensity. Those measures come from different inputs: the index combines reported counselors, gifted access, attendance, and staffing, while the staffing percentile compares the city's student-teacher ratio directly. Agreement across both measures is stronger evidence of broad reported capacity than either score alone, though neither is a test-score rating or a guarantee about an individual classroom.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

6 of Hillsborough's 12 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 17-point gap between River Park Elementary and Grady Brown Elementary shows the range hidden by Hillsborough'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 32%
School count
Top 31%
Resource Index average
86th percentile
Teacher staffing
78th percentile

Orange High accounts for 17.3% of all Hillsborough public-school enrollment

That concentration means Hillsborough-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

Hillsborough school enrollment varies 29× across entities

Hillsborough school enrollment ranges from 40 students (lowest) to 1,161 students (highest), a spread of 1,121 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. 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

Hillsborough student-teacher ratio is 13.1:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

2 of Hillsborough's 12 listed schools are charters

17% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. River Park Elementary 58
2. Central Elementary 58
3. Orange Middle 54
4. Hillsborough Elementary 54
5. Pathways Elementary 52
6. A L Stanback Middle 51
7. Partnership Academy 49
8. Orange High 48
9. The Expedition School 46
10. Eno River Academy 43
11. Cedar Ridge High 42
12. Grady Brown Elementary 41

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Hillsborough

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 Partnership Academy 72.6/100
  2. 2 Central Elementary 70.0/100
  3. 3 Grady Brown Elementary 67.5/100
  4. 4 A L Stanback Middle 65.8/100
  5. 5 Cedar Ridge High 64.6/100

What do families ask about schools in Hillsborough?

Which Hillsborough school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

River Park Elementary has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Hillsborough schools in this federal-data comparison at 58/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Hillsborough, NC? ▼

Hillsborough has 12 public schools with a total enrollment of 6,715 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 13.1:1.

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.