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)
370345002271	271	Dixon Middle	Public	6-8	118 Ridgefield Ave	Sneads Ferry	28460	Onslow County	Onslow County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 347-2738	978	54	18.1	37.7%	686 (70.1%)	56 (5.7%)	149 (15.2%)	6 (0.6%)	7 (0.7%)	3 (0.3%)	71 (7.3%)	$7,866			$808			$7,058	62.5	62.7	263	8
370237001017	272	North Johnston Middle	Public	6-8	435 Oil Company Road	Micro	27555	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 284-3374	595	41	14.5	99.5%	299 (50.3%)	60 (10.1%)	209 (35.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (4.5%)	$8,490			$818			$7,672	62.5	62.4	265	7
370276001139	273	Highlands School	Public, Alternative	K-12	545 Pierson Dr	Highlands	28741	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 526-2147	319	34	9.2	43.6%	216 (67.7%)	0 (0.0%)	97 (30.4%)	1 (0.3%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.9%)	$12,967			$1,206			$11,761	62	80.6	136	137
370192002773	274	Lincoln Academy	Public, Magnet	4-8	1016 Lincoln Street	Greensboro	27401	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(336) 370-3471	620	38	16.4	99.5%	99 (16.0%)	311 (50.2%)	59 (9.5%)	111 (17.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (6.3%)	$8,890			$583			$8,307	61.6	64	252	22
370297002395	275	Francis Bradley Middle	Public, Magnet	6-8	13345 Beatties Ford Rd	Huntersville	28078	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(980) 343-5750	1,067	59	18	46.4%	386 (36.2%)	372 (34.9%)	243 (22.8%)	31 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	34 (3.2%)	$8,663			$698			$7,965	61.6	68.8	216	59
370033203283	276	Island Montessori Charter School	Public, Charter	K-8	6339 Carolina Beach Rd	Wilmington	28412	New Hanover County	Island Montessori Charter	Yes	No	No	No	(910) 795-4860	214	21	10.4		179 (83.6%)	1 (0.5%)	15 (7.0%)	5 (2.3%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (6.1%)								61.5	56.9	317	41
370150002378	277	Kernersville Middle	Public	6-8	110 Brown Road	Kernersville	27284	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 703-4255	754	46	16.5	98.7%	398 (52.8%)	93 (12.3%)	216 (28.6%)	8 (1.1%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (4.9%)	$8,625			$645			$7,980	61.4	64.7	244	33
370408000925	278	R-S Middle School	Public	6-8	607 Westbrook Dr.	Rutherfordton	28139	Rutherford County	Rutherford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 286-4461	559	36	15.3	97.9%	385 (68.9%)	71 (12.7%)	54 (9.7%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (8.4%)	$8,987			$745			$8,242	61.4	64.2	250	28
370408001283	279	Chase Middle School	Public	6-8	840 Chase High Rd	Forest City	28043	Rutherford County	Rutherford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 247-1043	481	28	17.4	99.4%	333 (69.2%)	29 (6.0%)	85 (17.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (6.7%)	$9,772			$780			$8,991	61.2	59.8	293	14
370001201499	280	G R Whitfield	Public	PK, KG-8	4839 School Rd	Grimesland	27837	Pitt County	Pitt County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 752-6614	562	37	15.1	98.4%	304 (54.1%)	104 (18.5%)	117 (20.8%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	33 (5.9%)	$10,605			$1,481			$9,124	61.1	54.7	336	56

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.