Best Public Schools in Zip Code 40351

Zip code 40351 has eight schools—three elementary schools, one middle school, three high schools and one alternative school—with reported KSA results spanning grades 3–11. The clearest area-wide pattern is that writing is a relative strength while math is the biggest weakness: across conventional schools, writing averaged 44% versus 40% for matched state results, while math averaged 33% versus 42%.

McBrayer Elementary School led the conventional elementary schools in four fifth-grade subjects: math at 45%, reading at 53%, social studies at 43% and editing and mechanics at 51%; Rodburn Elementary School led fifth-grade writing at 38%. Rowan County Middle School had the strongest state-relative result: eighth-grade writing was 66%, 18 points above the state. Rowan County Senior High School also stood out for a 98% graduation rate, 4 points above the state, and 11th-grade writing 8 points above the state. Results were lower in several areas at Tilden Hogge Elementary School: its fifth-grade math was 24%, 21 points below McBrayer’s, and reading was 36%, 17 points below. The alternative schools also had lower same-grade results: Rowan Academy - In Person scored 10% in seventh-grade math, 18 points below Middle, while Rowan Academy - Virtual Education scored 20% in fifth-grade math, 25 points below the state.

Recent trends differ by school: McBrayer’s ten comparable test results rose an average of 3 points, while Tilden’s nine fell 5 points and Middle’s ten fell 5 points. Across all 44 matched results, schools moved about 2 points in the unfavorable direction relative to the state. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile rose from 30 to 40 for McBrayer between 2023–24 and 2025–26, but fell from 56 to 25 for Tilden and from 54 to 34 for Rodburn. Attendance offers another point of comparison: Tilden’s 14% chronic absenteeism was the lowest among conventional schools, versus 24% statewide, while Senior High’s 33% was above the state. School context does not neatly track results: in 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 55% at McBrayer, 57% at Tilden and 71% at Rodburn; their student-teacher ratios were 18.5, 13.3 and 14.8, respectively. These measures are context, not explanations for scores.