Bertie High

Bertie High is a traditional public high school in Windsor, NC, serving 449 students in grades 9-12 within Bertie County Schools. The school is rated just 1 star, ranking #564 out of 662 NC high schools at the 15th percentile — and that low standing reflects a decade-long pattern, not a one-year dip: Bertie High has ranked between the 6th and 19th percentile every year since 2015. Nearly all of its students (99.3%) qualify for free/reduced lunch, making it an extremely high-poverty school.

Bertie High trails both its district and the state on every End-of-Course subject. English II is the most urgent concern — just 28.3% of students scored proficient in 2025-2026, versus 64.6% statewide, and the rate fell sharply from the prior year. Math I is also weak at 23.5% proficiency, although that is a major improvement from a catastrophic 10.7% the year before. Math III is a genuine bright spot, rising to 55% proficiency and narrowing the gap to the state. Chronic absenteeism has been cut from 55.3% to 33% in three years but still exceeds the state average of 24.2%. The graduation rate, however, is a real strength: 84.6% of students graduate, close to the state's 88.8% and well above nearby Goldsboro High (63.5%) and Southern Wayne High (69.5%).

The most striking comparison is just yards away: Bertie Early College High, on the same campus and serving a similarly high-poverty student body, is rated 4 stars at the 85th percentile, with English II proficiency above 95%. That contrast shows poverty alone doesn't explain Bertie High's results. Bertie High also spends more per student ($14,631) and maintains a smaller student-teacher ratio (14.5) than higher-performing nearby schools such as Rosewood High, Eastern Wayne High, and Goldsboro High. The most pressing equity concern is special education: Bertie High's special education students ranked at the 3rd percentile statewide in the latest year, one of the lowest subgroup results in North Carolina.