Charles E. Jordan High School

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Charles E. Jordan High School
Address
6806 Garrett Road Durham, North Carolina 27707 United States
Coordinates	35°55′21″N 78°57′44″W / 35.9225°N 78.9623°W / 35.9225; -78.9623
Information
Other names	Jordan High School JHS
Type	Public
Established	1963 (61 years ago) (1963)
School district	Durham Public Schools
CEEB code	341060
Principal	Susan Taylor
Faculty	113.96 (FTE)[1]
Enrollment	2,040 (2022–23)[1]
Student to teacher ratio	17.90[1]
Color(s)	Red and navy blue
Mascot	Falcon
Website	dpsnc.net/domain/54

Charles E. Jordan High School (generally referred to as Jordan) is located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is one of seven high schools in Durham Public Schools. It is located on Garrett Road near Hope Valley Road in southwest Durham. The school mascot is the falcon.

Jordan students come from many local middle schools such as Shepard, Sherwood Githens, Lowe's Grove, Immaculata, and Rogers-Herr.

Jordan's enrollment was 1,979 as of the 2017–2018 school year.^[2] Students at Jordan come from a broad swathe of southern and western Durham, covering neighborhoods of varying socio-economic backgrounds. The school is fairly balanced between African American and White students but has seen a rising number of Hispanic students due to the influx of native Spanish speakers in Durham's population.

In 2005, Newsweek magazine ranked Jordan 192nd in its annual listing of top high schools in the United States. In 2007, Newsweek ranked Jordan as the 307th best high school in America.^[3] This study was based largely on the ratio of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate Tests taken to the number of graduating high school seniors.

Jordan High School is also known for its Freshman Academy. The Freshman Academy is a comprehensive freshman transition program for all first-time (or non-repeating) 9th graders. Each freshman is assigned to a Freshman Academy "team," consisting of a counselor and four teachers and subjects: English, Honors Biology or Earth Science, World History, and Health & Physical Education. Each teaching team serves approximately 110–120 common students .^[4]

The Academy was created as a response to a large number of freshman retentions as 100 to 150 freshmen were retained each year, at that time. A student could easily fall between the cracks when his/her stakeholders were not communicating regularly about the student’s progress. During the 2003–04 school year, the staff began researching freshman academies across the state and the country. It was determined that the teaming concept used widely at the middle school level had merit on many levels and was the most practical way to address many of our transition needs. During the 2004–05 academic year, a pilot program was introduced including 40% of the Freshman class hand-selected for the program, expanding it full-scale in 2005–06. Since then the freshman academy has led to a significant decrease in retentions and has attracted students from all across Durham.^[4] During the 2013/2014 school year only 38 out of 413 students were retained.

Jordan has a rich tradition in athletics. The 2012/2013 athletic teams won seven conference championships (men's tennis, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track and field, lacrosse, women’s soccer, and wrestling). The school also has a nationally recognized men’s soccer program that has won 3 state titles.^[5]