Center for Career Innovation

Center for Career Innovation is an one-room-style secondary school in Asheville, North Carolina, operated by Buncombe County Schools. The school serves 41 students in grades 9 through 13. Enrollment runs roughly 95% smaller than the state mean of about 761.

Across the 45 schools in Buncombe County Schools (22,452 students total), Center for Career Innovation accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Center for Career Innovation logs that the largest single group is White, at 66% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school lists 22% Hispanic, 7% Black, 5% multiracial. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 82%.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Center for Career Innovation has 4 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.3:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 19.6:1 average. About 44% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is lower than Buncombe County's rate of about 88%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Center for Career Innovation is in the bottom 10% of North Carolina public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 65.4%; Center for Career Innovation posts 30.3%, -35.1 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Buncombe County put the typical household earns roughly $74,436 per year, roughly 46% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Buncombe County's 61 public schools (combined enrollment of about 29,908 students), Center for Career Innovation is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Early College, around 0.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Center for Career Innovation ranks 7th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 61.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a metropolitan area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 47%: 77 students in 2018 compared to 41 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment grew from 9% to 22% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 19.3:1 in 2018 to 10.3:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.