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)
370357001467	521	Penderlea Elementary	Public	K-8	11 Garden Road	Willard	28478	Pender County	Pender County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 285-2761	495	35	14.1	71.5%	272 (54.9%)	93 (18.8%)	103 (20.8%)	4 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (4.6%)	$9,390			$895			$8,495	36.1	19.7	653	132
370117002066	522	South Davie Middle	Public	6-8	197 South Davie Drive	Mocksville	27028	Davie County	Davie County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 751-5941	547	36	15.1	67.3%	324 (59.2%)	67 (12.2%)	122 (22.3%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (5.3%)	$9,624			$664			$8,960	36	42.3	434	88
370048303628	523	Oak Hill Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	4603 Oak Hill School Rd.	Lenoir	28645	Caldwell County	Oak Hill Charter School	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(828) 759-1383	188	12	15.5		165 (87.8%)	1 (0.5%)	7 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (6.4%)								36			(n/a)
370045000161	524	Enka Middle	Public	7-8	390 Asbury Road	Candler	28715	Buncombe County	Buncombe County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 670-5010	602	41	14.7	64.8%	418 (69.4%)	26 (4.3%)	140 (23.3%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	14 (2.3%)	$9,775			$826			$8,949	36	41.1	450	74
370032503265	525	College Prep and Leadership Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	4201 Furniture Avenue	Jamestown	27282	Guilford County	The College Preparatory and Leadership A	Yes	No	No	Yes	(336) 884-0131	821	19	43.3	96.2%	0 (0.0%)	734 (89.4%)	21 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	64 (7.8%)								35.6	29.6	562	37
370036303346	526	Reaching All Minds Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	2703 Holloway St.	Durham	27703	Durham County	Reaching All Minds Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(919) 596-1899	400	33	12		1 (0.3%)	83 (20.8%)	313 (78.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.8%)								35.6	15.5	687	161
370472002825	527	Wendell Middle	Public	6-8	3409 NC Highway 97	Wendell	27591	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 365-1667	719	53	13.6	67.7%	148 (20.6%)	235 (32.7%)	272 (37.8%)	27 (3.8%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (4.7%)	$8,914			$440			$8,473	35.4	22.9	637	110
370234001002	528	Cullowhee Valley School	Public	PK, KG-8	240 Wisdom Drive	Cullowhee	28723	Jackson County	Jackson County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 293-5667	619	44	14	68.0%	384 (62.0%)	11 (1.8%)	165 (26.7%)	4 (0.6%)	19 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (5.8%)	$10,392			$1,261			$9,131	35.2	38.8	474	54
370153003297	529	Franklinton Middle	Public	6-8	3 N Main St	Franklinton	27525	Franklin County	Franklin County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 494-2971	247	19	12.8	78.1%	66 (26.7%)	102 (41.3%)	52 (21.1%)	3 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (9.7%)	$12,515			$1,448			$11,066	35.2	30.6	550	21
370432001712	530	North Stanly Middle	Public	6-8	36605 Old Salisbury Rd	New London	28127	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 961-3700	487	30	16.4	52.4%	362 (74.3%)	45 (9.2%)	24 (4.9%)	24 (4.9%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	30 (6.2%)	$8,519			$666			$7,853	35.1	30.1	557	27

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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

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.