Best Public Schools in Princeton, NC

Princeton, North Carolina, is served by just two public schools — Princeton High, covering grades 6–12, and Princeton Elementary, covering grades PK–5 — with no separate middle school. Both are part of Johnston County Public Schools, a district ranked in the 60th percentile statewide, and both serve very high-poverty populations, with more than 99% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

In the most recent school year, Princeton Elementary was the higher-ranked of the two schools, placing in the 68th percentile statewide with 3 stars while Princeton High earned 2 stars and placed in the 44th percentile. Princeton Elementary's standout areas are math and science: average math proficiency in grades 3–5 was 70.0%, above the district's 66.9% and the state's 63.6%, and 77.7% of its 5th graders were proficient in science. Princeton High, despite its lower ranking and high-poverty population, posted an extraordinary 8.0% chronic absenteeism rate — far better than the district's 21.8% and the state's 24.2% — and its 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade math proficiency all exceeded state averages. Its Math I EOC proficiency jumped from 38.3% to 53.0%, well above the state's 42.1%, and its high school graduation rate was a solid 92.4%.

Reading is the consistent weak spot in both schools. At Princeton Elementary, reading proficiency slides from 66.9% in 3rd grade to 58.5% in 4th and 53.2% in 5th grade — a 13.7-point drop that mirrors a similar, if less severe, pattern in math. At Princeton High, middle-grade reading averages 55.6% versus the district's 57.5%, and English II EOC proficiency fell to 53.6%, well below the state's 64.6%. Both schools have also declined in statewide percentile rankings over the past two years even as many test scores improved, indicating that other schools across North Carolina are advancing faster. Attendance also differs sharply between the two campuses: 20.7% of Princeton Elementary students are chronically absent versus just 8.0% at Princeton High, despite nearly identical poverty levels. Lifting reading achievement to match their strong math and science results is the clearest path for both schools to climb.