Summary:
Seagrove, North Carolina, is a small city served by just two public schools: Seagrove Elementary School (K-5) in the Randolph County School System and Westmoore Elementary (PK-8) in Moore County Schools, meaning there is no standalone middle or high school within the city limits. Both schools serve extremely high-poverty populations, with roughly 99% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.
Westmoore Elementary is the stronger academic performer overall, ranking at the 64th percentile statewide compared to Seagrove Elementary School's 45th percentile. Westmoore excels in its middle grades, with 7th grade math at 88.9% proficient and 6th grade reading at 80.6% — well above state averages. Seagrove, however, is an attendance standout: its 16.1% chronic absenteeism rate is far lower than Westmoore's 21.6% and the state's 24.2%. Seagrove also posts strong 3rd grade scores (72.9% math, 61.0% reading), beating state averages. Westmoore benefits from sitting in the higher-performing Moore County Schools district (74th percentile), while Randolph County School System ranks in the 35th percentile.
Both schools have seen declining statewide rankings over three years, and both posted sharp drops in 5th grade science from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 (Seagrove fell from 61.3% to 47.6%; Westmoore from 85.7% to 63.2%) even as the state average rose. Small grade-level cohorts at both schools cause dramatic year-to-year swings — Westmoore's 7th grade math jumped from 47.4% to 88.9% in one year — so multi-year trends matter more than single-year results. Seagrove's early-grade strength fades by 4th and 5th grade, especially in reading and science. Westmoore also spends about $1,675 more per student ($11,793 vs. $10,118), which may factor into resource differences, though that spending data comes from 2018–2019.
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