Middle Schools in Durham Public Schools

Durham Public Schools operates 9 middle schools serving grades 6–8 and enrolling roughly 5,464 students, and although the district as a whole ranks 155th out of 246 North Carolina districts, its middle schools are sharply split between a couple of top performers and a larger group sitting well below the state median.

The two clear leaders are Rogers-Herr Middle and Lakewood Montessori Middle, which rank in the 83rd and 82nd percentiles statewide. Rogers-Herr holds a 4-star rating with roughly 71% composite EOG proficiency, chronic absenteeism of just 18.7%, and 8th-grade science proficiency above 83%. Lakewood Montessori posts the district’s highest composite score at about 73.7% and the lowest chronic absenteeism at 6.8%, although it slipped from a 5-star to a 4-star rating this year. James E Shepard Middle also deserves attention: it ranks 39th, but its 21.5% chronic absenteeism is below the state average and its 8th-grade science proficiency of 69.2% exceeds the state average. Sherwood Githens Middle, the district’s largest school with 878 students, lands at the 42nd percentile with roughly 53% composite proficiency. The remaining five schools — Brogden Middle, Lucas Middle, George L Carrington Middle, Neal Middle, and Lowe’s Grove Middle — all rank at or below the 26th percentile, with composite proficiency ranging from about 36% to 45%.

Poverty levels are nearly identical across all nine schools, with free/reduced-price lunch rates from 98.6% to 99.7%, so the dramatic outcome gaps are driven by other factors. Chronic absenteeism is the clearest differentiator: the district average is 36.1% versus the state average of 24.2%, and six of the nine schools exceed 40%. The three schools with the lowest absenteeism — Lakewood Montessori, Rogers-Herr, and Shepard — hold the district’s top three academic ranks. There is positive momentum, too: Brogden Middle improved by 11.3 percentage points and Lowe’s Grove Middle by 12.3 points this year. Overall, families face a bimodal district: two excellent schools, no true middle tier, and seven schools below the 43rd percentile, making school choice especially important for Durham parents.