P S Jones Middle

P S Jones Middle is a 6–8 public middle school in Washington, NC, serving 659 students as part of Beaufort County Schools. The school ranks in the bottom third of North Carolina middle schools, earning a 1-star SchoolDigger rating for 2025–26, and nearly all of its students (99.4%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Academic proficiency lags district and state averages in most subjects and grade levels, while chronic absenteeism has climbed to 32.9% — well above the district's 26.9% and the state's 24.2%.

The contrast with Chocowinity Middle, just seven miles away in the same district, is striking. Both schools serve nearly identical student populations, yet Chocowinity ranks in the 60th percentile statewide while P S Jones sits at the 30th percentile. The gap is widest in 6th grade math, where just 38.2% of P S Jones students are proficient versus 82.4% at Chocowinity. Reading in 6th grade is also a weak entry point at 39.8% proficiency, below the district's 50.5% and the state's 54.8%. Encouragingly, students appear to make gains once they are in the school: the cohort that scored 40.9% in 6th grade math in 2024–25 reached 55.2% in 7th grade math the following year.

P S Jones shows real strengths with certain learners — English learner students perform in the 64th percentile statewide. However, special education results have dropped sharply from the 48th to the 5th percentile and merit immediate attention. Attendance is another red flag, with chronic absenteeism rising for three straight years even as state rates have fallen. Nearby Hope Middle shows what is possible: it ranks in the 94th percentile and achieves strong proficiency despite serving an even higher-poverty population and posting a chronic absenteeism rate of just 16.5%. For P S Jones, improving attendance and strengthening the transition into 6th grade are the most promising next steps.