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Best Public Schools in Graham, NC

At a glance

Schools

6,444

Students

Districts

5-star school

Top rankedABSS Early College at ACC6^th of 662 North Carolina high schools

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Biggest riser

Southern Alamance Middle up 48 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

Alamance Virtual School 11.3 students per teacher

SchoolDigger ratings

5★

2★

1★

0★

2 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)

Compare North Carolina cities →See the top-ranked North Carolina schools →

Summary:

Graham, North Carolina — a small Alamance County city with 12 public schools serving about 6,444 students in elementary, middle, and high school grades — is split between the Alamance-Burlington Schools district (a 1-star system ranked 179th of 246 in North Carolina) and the independent River Mill Academy district. Parents will quickly notice a two-tier landscape. ABSS Early College at ACC is the outstanding academic leader, ranked 6th of 662 North Carolina high schools with near-perfect proficiency in Math I and English II, while River Mill Academy graduates 93.3% of its students and outperforms state averages by 20–40 percentage points on many assessments.

Within the traditional Alamance-Burlington Schools, the Southern Alamance feeder pattern is clearly the strongest. Southern Alamance High graduates 90.5% of students, topping both district (85.9%) and state (88.8%) averages, and Southern Alamance Middle has climbed from the 23rd to the 32nd percentile in three years. Alexander Wilson Elementary is the bright spot among traditional elementary schools, ranking in the 48th percentile with 5th-grade scores near state averages despite a 55.7% free/reduced lunch rate. The remaining traditional schools lag far behind: North Graham Elementary (0th percentile), South Graham Elementary (7th), B. Everett Jordan Elementary (11th), Graham Middle (5th), and Graham High (11th) all land in the bottom 11% of North Carolina.

Chronic absenteeism is the clearest warning sign, especially at Ray Street Academy, where 74.7% of students are chronically absent and proficiency rates remain in the single digits to mid-teens. Graham Middle and Southern Alamance High both exceed 43% chronic absenteeism, well above the state’s 24.2%, while the strongest performers — River Mill Academy at 12.1% and Alexander Wilson Elementary at 15.2% — enjoy the healthiest attendance. High-poverty schools also dominate the bottom: every Graham school with more than 98% free/reduced lunch eligibility ranks in the bottom 11%, though Alexander Wilson Elementary proves a majority-FRPL school can still perform near state averages. And spending more does not guarantee better results: Ray Street Academy spends $33,251 per student for the lowest outcomes, while ABSS Early College at ACC spends just $6,280 and produces the city’s best results.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				EOC Biology (2026)	EOC English II (2026)	EOC Math I (2026)	EOC Math III (2026)	EOG Mathematics (2026)						EOG Reading (2026)						EOG Science (2026)		Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients (2025)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	EOC Biology End of Course	EOC English II End of Course	EOC Math I End of Course	EOC Math III End of Course	EOG Mathematics 3rd Grade	EOG Mathematics 4th Grade	EOG Mathematics 5th Grade	EOG Mathematics 6th Grade	EOG Mathematics 7th Grade	EOG Mathematics 8th Grade	EOG Reading 3rd Grade	EOG Reading 4th Grade	EOG Reading 5th Grade	EOG Reading 6th Grade	EOG Reading 7th Grade	EOG Reading 8th Grade	EOG Science 5th Grade	EOG Science 8th Grade	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Alexander Wilson Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	2518 Nc 54	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 578-1366	609	38	16.0	55.7%	317 (52.1%)	77 (12.6%)	155 (25.5%)	14 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (7.6%)	47.7	772^nd of 1492 public elementary schools	48.3%		46.3	813^th of 1490 public elementary schools	45.4%	41					50.0	62.3	65.3				49.1	54.7	59.4				67.3		$8,547	$664	$7,883
B. Everett Jordan Elementary	Public	K-5	5827 Church Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 376-3673	338	24	14.3	98.5%	179 (53.0%)	20 (5.9%)	104 (30.8%)	10 (3.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (7.1%)	17.3	1331^st of 1492 public elementary schools	10.8%		15.2	1346^th of 1490 public elementary schools	9.7%	15					53.8	25.0	42.6				55.8	32.1	42.6				40.7		$10,310	$1,141	$9,169
Graham High	Public	9-12	903 Trollinger Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 570-6440	828	45	18.4	99.6%	109 (13.2%)	292 (35.3%)	367 (44.3%)	8 (1.0%)	6 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	46 (5.6%)	14.3	586^th of 662 public high schools	11.5%		12.7	580^th of 641 public high schools	9.5%	6	36.6	40.6	26.9	36.0															$10,422	$935	$9,487
Graham Middle	Public	6-8	311 E Pine Street	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 570-6460	553	31	17.8	99.5%	42 (7.6%)	206 (37.3%)	259 (46.8%)	4 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	40 (7.2%)	6.1	740^th of 778 public middle schools	4.9%		4.2	752^nd of 773 public middle schools	2.7%	12								21.5	24.7	29.7				29.6	26.2	25.0		33.5	$9,053	$1,314	$7,739
North Graham Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1025 Trollinger Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 578-2272	362	26	13.9	99.2%	62 (17.1%)	124 (34.3%)	134 (37.0%)	4 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	37 (10.2%)	3	1486^th of 1492 public elementary schools	0.4%		2.5	1486^th of 1490 public elementary schools	0.3%						34.0	32.8	18.8				21.3	29.3	16.7				18.8		$11,600	$1,691	$9,909
South Graham Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	320 Ivey Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 570-6520	518	34	15.2	99.4%	86 (16.6%)	154 (29.7%)	226 (43.6%)	12 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (7.7%)	12.7	1391^st of 1492 public elementary schools	6.8%		20.4	1272^nd of 1490 public elementary schools	14.6%	119					43.7	37.2	38.4				36.6	40.7	38.4				42.5		$10,049	$1,265	$8,783
Southern Alamance High	Public	9-12	631 Southern High Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 570-6400	1,148	61	18.7	49.8%	668 (58.2%)	143 (12.5%)	250 (21.8%)	22 (1.9%)	4 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	61 (5.3%)	32.2	464^th of 662 public high schools	29.9%		32.9	425^th of 641 public high schools	33.7%	39	54.0	51.1	39.0	55.1															$8,061	$590	$7,471
Southern Alamance Middle	Public	6-8	771 Southern High Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 570-6500	822	45	18.2	58.2%	443 (53.9%)	106 (12.9%)	211 (25.7%)	13 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (6.0%)	33	527^th of 778 public middle schools	32.3%		26.8	575^th of 773 public middle schools	25.6%	48								39.6	42.7	45.0				44.0	53.5	47.8		62.0	$8,216	$680	$7,536
Ray Street Academy	Public	6-12	609 Ray Street	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 570-6644	36	15	2.4	91.7%	12 (33.3%)	17 (47.2%)	7 (19.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)	340.6	539.4	7.1					535.7	5.9	14.3				26.7	539.2	9.5		23.8	$33,251	$3,956	$29,295
ABSS Early College at ACC	Public	9-12	1247 Jimmie Kerr Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 506-4001	247	8	29.9	36.4%	108 (43.7%)	35 (14.2%)	74 (30.0%)	12 (4.9%)	2 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (6.5%)	95	6^th of 662 public high schools	99.1%		96.9	4^th of 641 public high schools	99.4%	2	362.5	99.9	100.0	565.6															$6,280	$165	$6,115
Alamance Virtual School	Public, Virtual	6-12	631 Southern High Road	Graham	27253	Alamance County	Alamance-Burlington Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(336) 570-6134	203	18	11.3	62.1%	89 (43.8%)	60 (29.6%)	28 (13.8%)	4 (2.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (10.3%)	20.9	546^th of 662 public high schools	17.5%		15.1	559^th of 641 public high schools	12.8%	13	56.5	46.4	14.8	41.7				35.7	39.1	27.6				42.9	47.8	58.6		75.9
River Mill Academy	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	235 Cheeks Lane	Graham	27253	Alamance County	River Mill Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(336) 229-0909	780	47	16.4		489 (62.7%)	113 (14.5%)	122 (15.6%)	11 (1.4%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (5.6%)								(n/a)	92.9	89.7	34.5	65.9	83.8	82.6	87.3	74.2	83.9	98.1	64.7	73.9	69.0	93.5	85.5	90.6	80.3	90.6

Cities Near Graham

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Haw River	2.09 mi	3	406^th
Burlington	4.57 mi	15	411^th
Mebane	4.69 mi	8	249^th
Saxapahaw	5.96 mi	1
Durham	7.83 mi	74	322^nd

See the top NC North Carolina cities

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.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.