Best Middle Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOG test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 3, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 773)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
91	Meadow School	Public	PK, KG-8	7507 NC Hwy 50 S	Benson	27504	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 894-4226	646	43	15	98.3%	421 (65.2%)	22 (3.4%)	182 (28.2%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	17 (2.6%)	$10,525			$841			$9,683	85.4	75.1	169	78		370237001019
92	Seventy-First Classical Middle	Public	6-8	6830 Raeford Road	Fayetteville	28304	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(910) 864-0092	433	30	14.4	48.7%	79 (18.2%)	220 (50.8%)	64 (14.8%)	21 (4.8%)	2 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	46 (10.6%)	$9,000			$854			$8,146	85.1	83.7	105	13		370001101833
93	Phillips Middle	Public	6-8	606 N Estes Dr	Chapel Hill	27514	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 929-2188	600	52	11.4	27.0%	272 (45.3%)	86 (14.3%)	59 (9.8%)	131 (21.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	51 (8.5%)	$12,655			$480			$12,175	85	83.3	107	14		370072000302
94	Margaret B. Pollard Middle	Public	6-8	185 Granite Mill Blvd.	Chapel Hill	27516	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 969-0070	736	44	16.6	20.8%	479 (65.1%)	47 (6.4%)	133 (18.1%)	22 (3.0%)	3 (0.4%)	3 (0.4%)	49 (6.7%)	$8,507			$455			$8,052	84.9	85.2	97	3		370075003178
95	Central Carolina Academy	Public, Charter	6-12	1801 Douglas Drive	Sanford	27330	Lee County	Central Carolina Academy	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(984) 977-9455	536	35	15.4	26.5%	377 (70.3%)	26 (4.9%)	82 (15.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	50 (9.3%)								84.9	72.6	190	95		370047803616
96	Martin Middle	Public, Magnet	6-8	1701 Ridge Rd	Raleigh	27607	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(919) 881-4970	1,011	61	16.6	29.6%	454 (44.9%)	174 (17.2%)	150 (14.8%)	205 (20.3%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (2.5%)	$9,504			$524			$8,981	84.8	84.2	103	7		370472001877
97	Holly Ridge Middle	Public	6-8	950 Holly Springs Road	Holly Springs	27540	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 577-1335	955	54	17.5	26.0%	589 (61.7%)	143 (15.0%)	125 (13.1%)	46 (4.8%)	2 (0.2%)	2 (0.2%)	48 (5.0%)	$8,619			$411			$8,207	84.8	87.7	82	15		370472002684
98	McDougle Middle	Public	6-8	900 Old Fayetteville Rd	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 933-1556	659	57	11.6	27.6%	359 (54.5%)	69 (10.5%)	167 (25.3%)	17 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (7.1%)	$13,223			$311			$12,913	84.8	83	110	12		370072001240
99	The Downtown School	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-8	601 N Cherry Street	Winston Salem	27101	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(336) 703-4125	453	35	13	24.9%	211 (46.6%)	154 (34.0%)	41 (9.1%)	8 (1.8%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	36 (7.9%)	$11,387			$620			$10,767	84.6	77.2	151	52		370150002293
100	Hardin Park Elementary	Public	PK, KG-8	361 Jefferson Road	Boone	28607	Watauga County	Watauga County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 264-8481	854	73	11.7	41.6%	599 (70.1%)	21 (2.5%)	143 (16.7%)	50 (5.9%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (4.3%)	$11,487			$1,000			$10,486	84.2	82.1	112	12		370483001938

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 3, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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.