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Durham Public Schools


At a glance
155thof 246 North Carolina districts▲ 8
Better than 36% of North Carolina districts
511 Cleveland Street
Durham, NC 27702-3334
·(919) 560-3749·All North Carolina district rankings →
Statewide performance 2018–2026
2026: better than 37% of districts
57
Schools
31,797
Students
1
5-star school
Top rankedCity of Medicine Academy39th of 662 North Carolina high schools
Biggest riser
Glenn Elementary up 378 spots statewide this year
Smallest classes
Durham's Performance Learning Center 7.3 students per teacher
Newly ranked this year
Durham Early College of Health Sciences and 1 more
SchoolDigger ratings
4★
3★
2★
1★
0★
4 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)
Summary:

Durham Public Schools is a 55-school district serving about 32 elementary schools, 9 middle schools, 13 high schools, and 1 alternative school in Durham, North Carolina. The district ranks 155th of 246 North Carolina districts with a 2-star rating, and it trails the state in every tested subject. Its graduation rate is 80.3%, well below the state's 88.8%, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 36.1% far exceeds the state's 24.2%. Nearly every traditional school in Durham reports a free/reduced-price lunch rate above 99%, making this a predominantly low-income district — yet some of its highest-performing schools serve that same population.

The district's strongest schools are mostly specialty and magnet programs. City of Medicine Academy ranks 39th of 662 high schools (94th percentile) with near-universal proficiency, while J D Clement Early College High School reaches the 90th percentile despite a 99% poverty rate. Durham School of the Arts is the strongest large secondary school (77th percentile), and Durham School of Technology posts a 92.9% graduation rate. Among traditional zoned high schools, C E Jordan High is the clear leader at the 44th percentile. The top middle schools include Rogers-Herr Middle and Lakewood Montessori Middle — both 4-star schools — while Mangum Elementary (88th percentile) and Morehead Montessori (79th percentile) lead the elementary level.

The district's biggest academic weakness is Math I: overall proficiency is just 33.4%, and Northern High sits at 17.5%. Reading is often the weakest subject at elementary schools, and chronic absenteeism is concentrated in struggling schools like Hillside High (63.6%). There are bright spots — Glenn Elementary jumped from the 30th to 62nd percentile in two years — but the central challenge is equity and access. The district's top performers are mostly specialized programs, while the large comprehensive high schools and several neighborhood elementary schools carry the lowest proficiency, the highest absenteeism, and the lowest graduation rates.

AllElementaryMiddleHighAlternative
Ranking:
Map legend
E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private




Districts nearby

See the top NC North Carolina districts
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.

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