Tyrrell County Schools

Tyrrell County Schools serves 462 students in a small, rural district in Columbia, North Carolina, with just one school per grade span: Tyrrell Elementary (PK-6), Columbia Middle (7-8), and Columbia High (9-12).

Understanding this district starts with knowing that roughly 97–98% of students at each school qualify for free or reduced lunch, and per-pupil spending plus student-teacher ratios are relatively generous. Yet test scores mostly trail the state. Tyrrell Elementary is the district’s lowest-ranked school, falling to the 8th percentile, and every elementary math, reading, and science result lands below state averages. Its strongest point is that chronic absenteeism (23.4%) is slightly better than the state rate, and 3rd-grade reading jumped sharply from 20.7% to 44.0% proficient. Still, that remains below the state’s 55.6%, and proficiency drops to just 24.0% in 4th-grade reading.

At Columbia Middle, the standout is 8th-grade reading at 74.2% proficient—18 points above North Carolina’s average. That school has recovered to the 38th percentile after a weaker prior year. Its math story is mixed: 8th-grade math is close to the state (-7.8), but 7th-grade math is far behind (-36.2). Columbia High ranks highest in the district (40th percentile) and posts an impressive 86.4% proficiency in Math III, well above the state. Yet its Biology (25.0%) and Math I (26.3%) scores are extremely low, and chronic absenteeism is severe at 47.0%—nearly double the state rate. Because each grade cohort is tiny, year-to-year swings can be dramatic; for example, 8th-grade reading jumped 37 points in one year. Parents should focus on multi-year trends rather than a single year’s results.