Best Middle Schools in North Carolina

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

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
321	Collettsville School	Public	PK, KG-8	4690 Collettsville School Rd	Collettsville	28611	Caldwell County	Caldwell County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 754-6913	321	20	16.3	98.8%	299 (93.1%)	1 (0.3%)	10 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (3.4%)	$9,454			$800			$8,654	55.6	56.4	319	2		370058000222
322	Murphy Middle	Public	6-8	65 Middle School Drive	Murphy	28906	Cherokee County	Cherokee County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 837-0160	353	23	15.4	99.2%	299 (84.7%)	7 (2.0%)	19 (5.4%)	3 (0.8%)	3 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (6.2%)	$10,209			$1,096			$9,114	55.4	56.7	316	6		370078001056
323	North Stanly Middle	Public	6-8	36605 Old Salisbury Rd	New London	28127	Stanly County	Stanly County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 961-3700	471	28	16.6	99.4%	353 (74.9%)	47 (10.0%)	17 (3.6%)	16 (3.4%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.6%)	$8,519			$666			$7,853	55.3	35.1	530	207		370432001712
324	SanLee Middle School	Public	6-8	2309 Tramway Rd	Sanford	27332	Lee County	Lee County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 708-7227	792	52	15.2	99.6%	234 (29.5%)	154 (19.4%)	361 (45.6%)	9 (1.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (4.2%)	$7,599			$701			$6,898	55.3	52.7	364	40		370256003036
325	The Institute Development Young Leaders	Public, Charter	K-8	4300 S. Miami Blvd.	Durham	27703	Durham County	The Institute for the Development of You	Yes	No	No	Yes	(919) 308-9731	419	26	16.2		5 (1.2%)	214 (51.1%)	181 (43.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	16 (3.8%)								55.1	44.5	444	119		370035203284
326	Chocowinity Middle	Public	5-8	3831 Us Hwy 17 S	Chocowinity	27817	Beaufort County	Beaufort County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 946-6191	366	22	16.3	99.2%	182 (49.7%)	91 (24.9%)	50 (13.7%)	5 (1.4%)	2 (0.5%)	2 (0.5%)	34 (9.3%)	$9,367			$1,161			$8,206	55	57.4	309	17		370033002503
327	Speight Middle	Public	6-8	5514 Old Stantonsburg Road	Stantonsburg	27883	Wilson County	Wilson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 238-3983	281	17	16.5	98.9%	76 (27.0%)	75 (26.7%)	113 (40.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (6.0%)	$9,297			$641			$8,656	54.9	57	313	14		370502002007
328	Waynesville Middle	Public	6-8	495 Brown Ave	Waynesville	28786	Haywood County	Haywood County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 456-2403	727	45	16	97.2%	606 (83.4%)	3 (0.4%)	78 (10.7%)	7 (1.0%)	5 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	27 (3.7%)	$9,343			$1,182			$8,162	54.9	58.6	299	29		370204000911
329	Kings Mountain Middle	Public	7-8	1000 Phifer Road	Kings Mountain	28086	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	No	(704) 476-8340	631	37	16.9	99.5%	348 (55.2%)	162 (25.7%)	58 (9.2%)	7 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	56 (8.9%)	$8,838			$691			$8,147	54.9	51.1	383	54		370090002716
330	Norwayne Middle	Public	6-8	1394 Norwayne School Road	Fremont	27830	Wayne County	Wayne County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 242-3414	848	43	19.5	99.6%	386 (45.5%)	218 (25.7%)	164 (19.3%)	19 (2.2%)	2 (0.2%)	1 (0.1%)	58 (6.8%)	$8,110			$796			$7,314	54.8	58.1	305	25		370488001959

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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.