The top reported proficiency rate is 92% in Science. The lowest is 60% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Cabarrus County Schools Virtual Academy
Cabarrus County Schools Virtual Academy serves kindergarten through twelfth grade from a location in Concord, North Carolina. It is a public school operated by Cabarrus County Schools, not a charter or magnet school.
The school enrolls a small population spread unevenly across grades. Enrollment is heaviest in the middle and high school years, with only a handful of students in the early elementary grades. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is racially mixed, with white students making up roughly half the enrollment, black students a fifth, and meaningful representation of Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students. Data on special education and English learner populations were not available.
In state testing for grades three through eight, the school's proficiency rates in mathematics and English language arts both sit in a mid-range: fewer than two-thirds of students tested met proficiency in math, while reading proficiency was somewhat higher. Science results, by contrast, are substantially stronger, with a high proficiency rate on the state assessment. Because this is a virtual school serving students across the district and beyond, the enrollment tested in science was smaller than in other subjects, and science assessment methodology changed this year, so trend comparisons are not yet reliable. Graduation rate data were not available; state testing for the earliest grades were not conducted.
Against other districts in Cabarrus County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, a notably stronger standing than the county median. This positioning likely reflects the voluntary nature of virtual enrollment and the self-selected motivation of families choosing this model.
A virtual school model means learning happens online rather than in a physical building. No data on attendance, discipline, course offerings, staffing patterns, or student support structures were available to characterize the day-to-day learning environment, how student questions are answered, how students interact with peers, or how families troubleshoot problems. A parent considering this school would benefit from asking the school directly how it handles these practical dimensions of virtual instruction, what synchronous versus asynchronous work looks like, what technology support is available, and how academic progress and engagement are monitored.
Concord itself is a mid-sized city blending historic downtown life with rapid suburban growth. The downtown core along Union Street has undergone recent streetscape investment and houses civic anchors including the Cabarrus County Courthouse, now also home to the Davis Theatre and Cabarrus Arts Council. The city is experiencing strong population growth, fueled by its position northeast of Charlotte, with new housing, apartment, and workforce developments appearing across the I-85 corridor and downtown neighborhoods. Housing values in the Concord zip code are moderately elevated above state benchmarks, and rent is stable. Major employers include Atrium Health Cabarrus, Cabarrus County Schools itself, manufacturing and distribution operations, and motorsports and retail tied to Charlotte Motor Speedway and Concord Mills. Public transit is provided by Rider Transit, a bus system serving seven routes connecting downtown, Concord Mills, medical centers, and the Amtrak station in nearby Kannapolis.
Cabarrus County Schools as a district has undergone two significant changes relevant to families. In early 2025, the district adopted a uniform K-8 English language arts curriculum for the first time in decades, moving from a model where teachers assembled their own materials. The curriculum, Arts & Letters, is grounded in Science of Reading research. More broadly, the district executed a major boundary realignment taking effect in the 2024-25 school year that reassigned thousands of students across elementary, middle, and high schools in response to rapid population growth, closing one elementary school and opening a replacement STEM-focused school. These shifts are foundational to how the district is managing enrollment growth and standardizing instruction.
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