McDowell County Schools
McDowell County, North Carolina · Grades PK-13
- Address
- 334 South Main St, Marion, NC 28752
Open in Maps → - Phone
- (828) 652-4535
- NCES agency ID
- 3702940
- State LEA ID
- NC-590
Enrollment and school counts are the state’s 2024-2025figures where reported, otherwise the federal NCES directory.
School calendar
Term dates, holidays, breaks and teacher workdays for McDowell County Schools, as the district publishes them — with printable PDFs and calendar files you can subscribe to.
View the calendar →NC School Report Card
2024-2025Official accountability results published by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. School Performance Grades combine achievement (80%) with academic growth (20%).
Schools by type
| School type | Schools | Average students |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary | 8 | 299 |
| High | 3 | 565 |
| Middle | 3 | 373 |
| 6-12 | 1 | 60 |
| All schools | 15 | -- |
School performance grades
| Grade | Schools | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A | 2 | 14.3% |
| B | 1 | 7.1% |
| C | 6 | 42.9% |
| D | 5 | 35.7% |
| F | 0 | 0.0% |
| All graded schools | 14 | 100.0% |
School growth status
| Growth | Schools | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Exceeded | 3 | 21.4% |
| Met | 7 | 50.0% |
| Not Met | 4 | 28.6% |
Student performance by subject
| Subject | Grade-level proficient | Career & college ready |
|---|---|---|
| NC Math 3 | 63% | 40% |
| Mathematics (grades 3–8) | 53.9% | 30.5% |
| Science (grades 5 & 8) | 53.2% | 30.7% |
| English II | 51.9% | 29.1% |
| Reading (grades 3–8) | 50.9% | 26.9% |
| Biology | 44% | 29.3% |
| NC Math 1 | 33% | 12.8% |
Grade-level proficient is achievement levels 3–5; career and college ready is the higher bar of levels 4–5.
Outcomes
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| 4-year cohort graduation rate | 84.5% |
| ACT WorkKeys credential earned | 48.5% |
| Students completing Math III | 95% |
| Passed end-of-grade assessments | 45.5% |
| Students promoted to the next grade | 81.1% |
| Students retained in grade | 18.9% |
| English learners making progress (of 385) | 27.3% |
| Schools identified as low-performing | 5 of 14 |
Download the report card
The McDowell County Schools report card as a two-page interactive PDF — bookmarked sections, donut and bar charts, and the NC DPI and NCES sources cited with working links.
Student Demographics
Gender Distribution
Total Students: 5,613Student counts for McDowell County Schools, 2024-2025, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Percentages are of 5,613 students and may not total 100% because of rounding.
Students
Student Population
Students Counted: 5,539Student indicators for McDowell County Schools, 2024-2025, from the North Carolina School Report Cards. Attendance is out of the 5,539 students DPI counted, added up from the district’s own schools. A student is chronically absent after missing 10% or more of the days enrolled; the other measures overlap it and each other.
Teachers
Licensing & Certification
Total Teachers: 340.1 FTETeacher figures for McDowell County Schools, 2024-2025, from the North Carolina School Report Cards. Counts are full-time equivalents, not headcount, added up from the district’s own schools. Licensing and certification percentages are each out of 340.1 FTE.
McDowell County Schools boundary map
15 campusesLoading the map…
Click any campus for its details. District boundary from the Census school district geography published by NCES; campus locations from the NCES Common Core of Data.
Compare two schools
Put any two McDowell County Schools schools side by side — grades, growth, proficiency, attendance and staffing. You can also compare against a school in another district from the full comparison page.
Pick two different schools to compare.
Popular: McDowell High School vs McDowell Early College · McDowell Academy for Innovation vs The Summit Academy
Schools in McDowell County Schools
15 schoolsNo schools match those filters.
Directory figures are from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), U.S. Department of Education for 2024-2025.Methodology →