ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A Buncombe County high school in Asheville ranks among North Carolina’s top 10, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Nesbitt Discovery Academy ranked No. 6 among North Carolina high schools and No. 232 nationally, according to the 2026-27 rankings.
Nesbitt reported a graduation rate of more than 95 percent, a 66.9 college-readiness score and enrollment of about 372 students in grades 9-12, according to the U.S. News data.
Nesbitt is part of Buncombe County Schools.
It wasn’t the only Asheville-area school to make the state’s top 100.
School of Inquiry and Life Sciences, part of Asheville City Schools, ranked No. 64 in North Carolina. Hendersonville High School ranked No. 76.
That puts at least three schools in the Asheville area among the state’s top 100 in the rankings reviewed.
A closer look at Western North Carolina
The U.S. News rankings measure individual high schools, while separate 2024-25 district-level data provides a broader look at academic performance across school systems.
Those numbers show considerable differences among Western North Carolina districts in college readiness, math proficiency and reading proficiency.
Asheville City Schools, which includes School of Inquiry and Life Sciences, had a 51.9 college-readiness score, along with 52 percent math proficiency and 73 percent reading proficiency.
Buncombe County Schools reported a 21.0 college-readiness score, with 57 percent of students proficient in math and 68 percent proficient in reading.
Other mountain school districts showed a different pattern.
Haywood County Schools had some of the region’s strongest proficiency numbers, with 81 percent math proficiency and 79 percent reading proficiency. Its college-readiness score was 6.4.
McDowell County Schools reported 78 percent math proficiency and 82 percent reading proficiency, while its college-readiness score was 3.5.
Watauga County Schools had the highest college-readiness score among the Western North Carolina county school systems in the data provided, at 35.7. The district reported 67 percent math proficiency and 67 percent reading proficiency.
Yancey County Schools reported a college-readiness score of 23.6, with 55 percent math proficiency and 66 percent reading proficiency.
Henderson County Schools had a 14.7 college-readiness score, with 67 percent math proficiency and 70 percent reading proficiency.
Transylvania County Schools reported a 15.1 college-readiness score, with 67 percent math proficiency and 65 percent reading proficiency.
What the numbers mean
The numbers illustrate why college readiness and overall academic proficiency don’t necessarily move together.
A school district can have relatively high math and reading proficiency while posting a much lower college-readiness score.
The U.S. News rankings also shouldn’t be viewed simply as a list of the “best” schools. They are based on U.S. News’ methodology and factors including college readiness and student performance on state-required tests.
For local families, the rankings provide another way to compare schools, but they don’t capture everything about a school — including its programs, extracurricular offerings, student experience or what happens inside an individual classroom.
And while Nesbitt is the highest-ranked school in the Asheville area identified in the information reviewed, the statewide rankings extend well beyond the schools highlighted here.
That means other Western North Carolina schools may appear farther down the statewide list.
The rankings offer one snapshot of how schools compare. The broader district data provides another, showing that academic performance can look quite different depending on the measure being considered.
