Cardinal Charter Academy in Cary | Military Town Advisor

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	8/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 North Carolina End-of-Course Tests data from North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and using 2025 North Carolina End-of-Grade Tests data from North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Student Growth	7/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2024 Student growth data from North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Posted: January 13, 2026

This is the WORST SCHOOL I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED THE TEACHERS/FACULTY ARE THE MOST DISMISSIVE, DISCRIMINATORY, OFF PUTTING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! They do not care about your childs progression or their struggles. If you have children with special needs BEWARE BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN OR THEIR LEARNING. As a parent that has dealt with this school for overt a year just dont do it. They go throw principals like I go through tissue. Please please think before you send your children here. The staff dont even send their own children here.

Posted: January 13, 2026

Posted: January 9, 2026

The only serious issue we encountered at this school was bullying from several students, which began during the very first week of enrollment.

As a result, my son became noticeably more irritable, somewhat aggressive, and came home extremely tired every day. This did not affect his academic performance. He is a very smart child, and although English is not his first language, he was able to handle the academic program well. However, his overall emotional well-being and daily mood were consistently affected.

We are grateful to the school for the knowledge it provided to our son, and we are confident that he could have gained much more from his education if not for this situation. Unfortunately, for this reason, we had to leave the school.

The instability in leadership is also concerning. Over the past five years, the school has had four different principals, which inevitably affects the overall atmosphere and quality of management.

The principal at the beginning of the school year appeared friendly and approachable. During his time, there were changes among the teachers, and the overall impression of the teaching staff was better. After Thanksgiving, the principal was changed once again. Unfortunately, our sons teacher was unable to build a warm and trusting relationship with him. Our child became exhausted from constant reprimands and the feeling that he was not accepted.

Strict discipline, disguised through school uniforms and rigid rules, did not work in our case.

Posted: January 9, 2026

Posted: November 13, 2025

My family has been through one administrative change. The staff and administration there last year were neglectful of student learning and interventions. Going into a new year with new teachers and administration has again been a headache and neglectful to student's needs. Rude and dismissive teachers and principals. Teachers are in class each day with their students and no nothing about student's needs. The curriculum is rushed, and all students are expected to learn at the same pace. If not, the teachers treat the students as an inconvenience. And pushed to the side. Interventions are begin done with students that need them. As well as the intervention coordinator is an absolute joke. We will not be back for another year. School needs to be shut down.

Posted: November 13, 2025

Posted: November 7, 2025

Principal is disgustingly and dismissive. She not only neglects the needs of her students but is also rude and disrespectful to the parents. There is ZERO communication with teachers and their phones dont even work half of the time.

Posted: November 7, 2025

Posted: October 13, 2025

I am disappointed with the lack of communication from this school regarding my childs academic progress, despite multiple attempts to reach out to teachers. There appears to be a pattern of academic negligence and poor follow-through when it comes to keeping parents informed and involved.

While the school was very proactive in communicating rules and procedures for student pick-up and drop-off, the same level of attention was not given to academics. Three weeks after the school year began, every students schedule was changed, resulting in new classes with little explanation or notice to parents.

Additionally, the school charges $160 for an after-school program intended to provide math tutoring. As a charter school, I would expect such academic support to be covered by grants or institutional funding rather than placed as an additional burden on parents.

Overall, this school does not demonstrate a commitment to genuine parent-school partnership or academic transparency. I would not recommend it to parents seeking to actively collaborate with educators in supporting their childs success.

Posted: October 13, 2025

Posted: September 13, 2024

Easily one of the worst schools.
My sons grades were not good with no support. There is also a significant amount bullying & racism.
Even staff seems unhappy, as there is a high turn over rate.

Posted: September 13, 2024

Posted: April 30, 2024

Absolutely disgusting school. My son 6 was placed in 1st Grade as he's from the UK and they start school earlier and he was struggling with the adjustment from UK to US. We then asked for him to be placed in transition kindergarten class with his own age group to help him. This was refused and he was then placed in the younger kindergarten class. The emotional stress placed on my son is neither justified or warranted. Certain individuals clearly on a power trip and are not there for the childrens best interest. I'll be contacting a legal team for the emotional stress being placed on my son regarding this matter.

Posted: April 30, 2024

Posted: February 7, 2024

They have great after school programs and Managment and thanks principal Mrs April Golf for working her hard work and concerns for young people.
Teaching good value and trying her best execute.
I Thank God for this School.

Posted: February 7, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2023

I am a ex student who went here in 5th grade to 8th grade. I came in 5th grade from a really bad school and when I went here 5th grade was great I had no issues but right when I went into middle school it was terrible teachers were disrespectful more kids would start fighting I think this is all from the lack of good teachers and the principal at this school is very disrespectful and is overall not nice to students. If you are think of sending your kid to this school remember this review.

Posted: September 15, 2023

Posted: March 3, 2023

My son is thriving in Kindergarten here . We couldnt be happier that we decided to enroll him here . He get a lot of individual attention in class and loves his teachers. He has learnt so much in his first year of school . They have several STEM focused projects and activists and have an after school STEM club for kindergarten too.

Posted: March 3, 2023

Posted: February 1, 2023

The School at the beginning was good but over the year(s) the quality of teachin , theachers and curriculam have degraged a lot .
Middle school kids are literally all bullies , none of the teachers pay attendtion to complains kids mention . Massive lack in special electives and absolutly no excitement in this school .
My daughter had horrendous experiances in school and I will NOT recommend this school if you want your childs saftey and mental health .

Posted: February 1, 2023

Posted: January 17, 2023

Seeing some of the previous reviews, i feel the need to comment on this. My Kindergartner is thriving here, there are a number of systems in place to help her succeed. While she doesn't come home having learned something everyday, her ability to read/count/etc is developing by leaps and bounds. She loves the teachers, and the teachers give a good amount of attention and instruction to the students. There are a number of new teachers and staff this year, so perhaps that is a big factor as well.
The complaints about the board/PTO/PTA are no longer relevant as the PTO has been completely rebuilt from the ground up and is no longer managed from outside. Granted, being a new parent to the school, I can't speak to everything, but from the teachers/administrators/PTO members i have met with at school functions, this is a great school. I look forward to having my other child in this school as I feel like the structure here will be very helpful in helping them both grow.

Posted: January 17, 2023

Posted: December 16, 2022

We were truly hoping the new principal and administration would be able to turn around what mess was previous left behind. Unfortunately, not only is this school incredibly disorganized and misleading, the environment is unhealthy. Examples:
1. We were told they had SSA which is a main reason we applied. They do not.
2. The 3rd grade teacher accused My 8 yr old son of cheating in front of the class. Shame him and ultimately he was incorrect.
3. My son was pulled out of the room and told he didnt know everything there was to know about math. (Hes in the 98th percentile and begging to be taught at his level.)
4. The ethos of this school is very much shame and blame with old school punishments such as silent lunch.
5. Access to balls during recess is a privilege not guaranteed.
6. Our son was so stressed out he began vomiting every morning before school and crying himself to sleep nightly. He became unrecognizable to us.

It is a huge disruption to pull a kid out of school midstream, but Jay is exactly what we did with both of our kids as their mental health plummeted. There are so many great schools in this county. Cardinal is basically playing school and not actually an institution currently capable of providing a growth minded, healthy, supportive, blossoming education.

Posted: December 16, 2022

Posted: September 21, 2022

My 1st grader is thriving at this school. Because of amazing teachers and staff, she is well above in reading and math for her grade level. The communication is really good, and despite some changes that happened last year, the administration really tries to have the school run smoothly. Would highly recommend!

Posted: September 21, 2022

Posted: February 18, 2022

There are some very good teachers at this school and the current principal (2022) is doing what she can to improve the numerous areas where the school falls short. The problem is the for-profit corporation that runs the school to make money and the board members who have no background in education (with maybe 1 exception) who are not serious about education and have no business running a school. The profit motive and incompetent management has led to numerous cost-cutting measures, including underpaying their teachers and having about 50% staff vacancies at any given time. There are no assistants, and the school has not had a counselor for over a year. Because teachers and families have left in droves, there is little adult supervision in some classrooms - children watch 2-4 hours of YouTube per day in these classes. The board is made up of people who do not care about education and do not even respond to parents, except the head of the board, who is rude, dismissive and disrespectful. The corporation that runs the school is in FL and so is completely absent, but is making a LOT of money of the funding of the school (just look up the CEO's salary, and how many corporate executives, lawyers, and lobbyists the corporation employs who are all getting hefty salaries). It's a moneymaking scheme, they underhire and then tell parents they are required to fill in the staffing gaps by volunteering (manadatory 20-30 hours). This supposed "tech" school has five devices in my kid's class of 27. That's 27 kids with one teacher who never even gets breaks or has any assistance, unless a parent comes in to volunteer. Terrible and not recommended, even though some of the teachers are extremely caring and just doing their best in a bad environment.

Posted: February 18, 2022

Posted: May 1, 2021

We have been with this school since it opened 7 years ago. We now have 2 children there. Both of our children have excelled beyond our expectations. They have strong friendships and great connections with teachers and staff. This is also a community of parents that assist with a lot of the needs of the school.

Posted: May 1, 2021

Posted: April 29, 2021

5 years in this school. Two kids. Plan to stay here next year as well.

Posted: August 27, 2019

Been up and down since the opening but overall a GREAT school. The most recent administration is fantastic. My children are very happy and THRIVING

Posted: May 6, 2019

We've had nothing but great experiences with the teachers and administration at this school. It feels like a true community with active parent involvement. Our soon has made great leaps academically, is eager and interested in school, and is proud of his school. So are his parents.

Posted: May 6, 2019

Posted: March 16, 2019

We are very happy with the teachers and administration at Cardinal Charter. We love the school community and communication is great!

Posted: January 24, 2019

We have been happy overall with Cardinal and have been there since day one. We have had some growing pains but now have a wonderful and very committed Principal and Assistant Principal. We have had terrific teachers and even though there has been some amount of turnover, we have never lost a teacher mid year for either of my kids and this is after 5 years with one child and four years with another. It's a nice community with involved parents. Our kids are happy here and have had a good learning experience.

Posted: December 21, 2018

I am overall very pleased. I am happy with the understanding and love of teaching from the students and the amount of support and help from the administrators.

Posted: December 21, 2018

Too many homework online sites to keep track of.

Posted: December 21, 2018

I am very impressed with the teachers. They care about the students and really do try to help the students to be successful.

Posted: December 21, 2018

There is a bullying problem but as I have learned from other students in various schools, that seems to be a problem in ANY school.

Posted: December 21, 2018

I really like the principal and vice principal. They are super supportive and helpful and very approachable.

Posted: December 21, 2018

When my children complain about bullying, it is handled immediately with zero tolerance.

Posted: November 5, 2018

We have had a great experience with Cardinal Charter Academy thus far. My children look forward to school and we've had very positive experiences with the teachers and other students attending this school.

Posted: November 5, 2018

My 3rd grader comes home with appropriate homework that reinforces skills learned at school.

Posted: November 5, 2018

My children enjoy both of their teachers and both teachers seem to be fair and easy to communicate with.

Posted: November 5, 2018

We just completed our 1st service project which certainly helps develop good character.

Posted: November 5, 2018

I see administrators out and about in the building all the time from the carpool line to the cafeteria. They seem to have a genuine interest in the progression of students.

Posted: November 5, 2018

Posted: October 11, 2018

I have no knowledge of this. Im neutral.

Posted: October 11, 2018

Homework jas been relatable to what is learned in class. This has helped reinforce retaining information.

Posted: October 11, 2018

We have had a great experience so far. The administration and teachers have been consistently helpful and are eager to get to know myself and my children. Parent teacher communication gets an A+!

Posted: October 5, 2018

This is our 2 children's first year at Cardinal and we are very pleased so far. My son's homeroom/Math & Science teacher has been very impressive and has gone out of her way to motivate our son during this time of transition! My husband and I truly appreciate all our children's teachers' efforts and are so glad we chose Cardinal!

Posted: October 5, 2018

I believe the teachers have an excellent approach to motivate kids and use homework assignment to maintain that.

Posted: October 5, 2018

Am very happy my children attend this school.