Summary
Southside High is a midsized rural high school in Chocowinity, NC, serving approximately 410 students in grades 9–12 as part of Beaufort County Schools. The school currently ranks 427th out of 662 North Carolina high schools (35th percentile, 2 stars), a slight improvement over last year but a decline from its 49th-percentile standing in 2023–24. Nearly all students (about 99%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school spends roughly $12,556 per pupil with a student-teacher ratio of 17.4 to 1.
Southside is not uniformly low-performing — and comparisons to nearby schools are revealing. The closest peer is Northside High, the other traditional high school in Beaufort County Schools. Northside serves a nearly identical student population (similar size, poverty level, and spending) yet ranks 280th statewide, posts a 90.8% graduation rate versus Southside's 81.2%, and has a chronic absenteeism rate of 17.5% versus Southside's 34.4%. Biology is the clearest trouble spot: only 30.9% of Southside students scored proficient in 2025–26, compared with 62.8% at Northside and 58.5% statewide. This follows several years of decline in Biology. English II (57.8%) and Math I (42.2%) are closer to district averages, and Math III is a genuine bright spot at 75% proficiency — above both the district (67.3%) and state (68.9%) averages.
Chronic absenteeism is the most actionable concern. More than one in three Southside students was chronically absent in 2024–25, up from roughly one in four a few years earlier, and the rise tracks with the school's ranking slide and the sharp drop in the latest graduation rate. Subgroup results are mixed: Hispanic students have historically been a relative strength (though that edge has faded), special education students improved meaningfully, and gifted students ranked in just the 13th percentile — a signal that advanced learners may need more support. Because Southside and Northside operate with similar funding, staffing, and student demographics, the gap between them points to school-level practices — attendance culture, course placement, and instructional strategies — as the areas most worth examining.
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