NCSSM has become a familiar name among annual lists of the nation's best public high schools.
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NCSSM continues run as Niche.com’s top public high school in the nation
October 2, 2026
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It’s not something NCSSM will ever grow accustomed to, but for the fourth time in the last five years, the school has topped Niche.com’s annual list of best public high schools in the nation. Making this year’s recognition particularly interesting is that news of the award broke while the school’s Board of Trustees was in session on NCSSM’s Morganton campus.
To NCSSM leaders, this year’s honor is, as in years past: a recognition not of test scores or percentages of college placement (though they are part of the metrics used to rank the 20,655 high schools that Niche evaluates to determine the top schools), but rather the tremendous level of talent and dedication found throughout NCSSM’s faculty and staff. Many in those groups have dedicated themselves to NCSSM’s students for decades. Others are brand new to the school and experiencing this recognition for the first time. Whether early in their career or near retirement, they are all pulling with conviction in the same direction, ever moving NCSSM and its students forward with a passion for serving unlikely to be matched at any other public school in the nation.
Even more impressive is that NCSSM now maintains that level of excellence across two residential campuses 168 miles and two-and-a-half hours from each other by car. This is further evidence that the excellence underpinning NCSSM is based in a collective and deeply ingrained mission that permeates every facet of the school’s operations.
“We appreciate this honor because it recognizes the talented and wonderful students we are fortunate to work with at NCSSM and our dedicated and amazing faculty and staff,” said Todd Roberts, NCSSM’s chancellor. “With the strong support of our state, our alumni, and families, they create a living and learning environment where students from all across our state thrive. I am proud to work alongside each and every one of them each day.”
