Middle Schools in Chatham County Schools

The Chatham County Schools district in North Carolina is home to three middle schools: Margaret B. Pollard Middle, Chatham Middle, and George M. Horton Middle. These schools serve students in grades 6-8 and showcase a range of academic performance and student demographics.

Margaret B. Pollard Middle stands out as the top-performing school in the district, consistently ranking among the best middle schools in North Carolina and earning a 4-out-of-5-star rating from SchoolDigger. In contrast, Chatham Middle lags behind, with a much lower statewide ranking and a 1- or 2-star rating, indicating underperformance compared to other middle schools in the state. George M. Horton Middle falls somewhere in the middle, with a 4-star rating and a statewide ranking between the other two schools.

The performance gap between the schools is reflected in their academic metrics. Margaret B. Pollard Middle consistently outperforms the Chatham County Schools district and the state of North Carolina in proficiency rates for End-of-Grade tests, while Chatham Middle lags behind. Additionally, Chatham Middle has the highest per-student spending and the lowest student-teacher ratio, suggesting that simply spending more money or having smaller class sizes may not be the sole solution to improving academic outcomes.