Best Middle Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOG test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 793)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
370048003602	301	Burke Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	Heritage Middle School	Valdese	28690	Burke County	Burke County Schools	No	(n/a)	Yes	(n/a)	(828) 448-3175	25	2	11.9	56.0%	21 (84.0%)	1 (4.0%)	1 (4.0%)	1 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (4.0%)								58.5			(n/a)
370441001751	302	J Sam Gentry Middle	Public	6-8	1915 W Pine Street	Mount Airy	27030	Surry County	Surry County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 786-4155	346	24	14.4	99.1%	238 (68.8%)	6 (1.7%)	83 (24.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (5.5%)	$9,877			$999			$8,878	58.3	61	283	19
370078000325	303	Ranger Elementary/Middle	Public	PK, KG-8	101 Hardy Truett Road	Murphy	28906	Cherokee County	Cherokee County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 644-5111	277	24	11.7	98.9%	252 (91.0%)	2 (0.7%)	14 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.2%)	$11,981			$1,248			$10,733	58.3	46.6	405	102
370045003578	304	Buncombe County Schools Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	21 Trinity Chapel Rd	Asheville	28805	Buncombe County	Buncombe County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(828) 255-5102	280	14	19.3	51.1%	217 (77.5%)	17 (6.1%)	34 (12.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (4.3%)								58.3	57.3	310	6
370488001959	305	Norwayne Middle	Public	6-8	1394 Norwayne School Road	Fremont	27830	Wayne County	Wayne County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 242-3414	870	48	18.2	99.7%	432 (49.7%)	226 (26.0%)	144 (16.6%)	18 (2.1%)	2 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (5.5%)	$8,110			$796			$7,314	58.1	58.1	306	1
370399001150	306	Western Rockingham Middle	Public	6-8	915 NW Ayersville Rd	Madison	27025	Rockingham County	Rockingham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 548-2168	537	38	14.1	99.4%	338 (62.9%)	49 (9.1%)	104 (19.4%)	2 (0.4%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	39 (7.3%)	$8,960			$915			$8,044	58	58.8	297	9
370053002154	307	Mount Pleasant Middle	Public	6-8	466 Walker Road	Mount Pleasant	28124	Cabarrus County	Cabarrus County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 260-6530	657	41	15.8	49.2%	461 (70.2%)	52 (7.9%)	103 (15.7%)	13 (2.0%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (3.8%)	$8,999			$443			$8,556	57.9	60.5	290	17
370008902472	308	Sugar Creek Charter	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4101 N Tryon Street	Charlotte	28206	Mecklenburg County	Sugar Creek Charter	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 509-5470	1,573	73	21.5	96.5%	2 (0.1%)	1,280 (81.4%)	238 (15.1%)	5 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (3.0%)								57.8	52.1	362	54
370033002503	309	Chocowinity Middle	Public	5-8	3831 Us Hwy 17 S	Chocowinity	27817	Beaufort County	Beaufort County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 946-6191	386	25	15.7	99.2%	200 (51.8%)	95 (24.6%)	60 (15.5%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.5%)	27 (7.0%)	$9,367			$1,161			$8,206	57.4	50.6	372	63
370038903358	310	Shining Rock Classical Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-11	2150 Russ Avenue	Waynesville	28786	Haywood County	Shining Rock Classical Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(828) 476-5150	630	53	11.9		545 (86.5%)	10 (1.6%)	24 (3.8%)	8 (1.3%)	12 (1.9%)	1 (0.2%)	30 (4.8%)								57.4	53.9	348	38

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 4, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.