Hayesville Middle

Hayesville Middle is a rural public school in Hayesville, NC, serving 301 students in grades 6–8 as the sole middle school in Clay County Schools, a district ranked in the top third of North Carolina. On the latest SchoolDigger ranking, Hayesville Middle places 330th out of 778 North Carolina middle schools (58th percentile, 3 stars). While that is a step down from last year's strong 72nd-percentile showing, it is still the best result in its immediate area: Murphy Middle sits in the 51st percentile, Andrews Middle in the 23rd, and Robbinsville Middle in the 10th.

Academically, the clearest bright spot is 7th grade. Math proficiency reached 78.4% — more than 22 points above the state average and roughly 30 points higher than nearby Murphy Middle — while 7th-grade reading hit 69.6%, also well above the state rate. Equally remarkable is the recent progress for special education students: the school jumped from the 6th percentile statewide for that group in 2023–2024 to the 97th percentile (5 stars) in the latest year, ranking 14th out of 500 North Carolina middle schools. This suggests interventions or supports put in place recently are making a real difference.

Attendance is another quiet strength. Chronic absenteeism fell from 33.7% to 24.2% in a single year — matching the state average and far better than Murphy Middle (45.1%), Robbinsville Middle (40.4%), and Andrews Middle (34.8%) — even though the school serves a very high-poverty population, with 99% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Still, results are not yet even across all grades: 6th-grade math (51.2%), 8th-grade math (50.0%), and 8th-grade science (61.0%) all trail their state averages, and gifted-student rankings have cooled from an elite 98th percentile two years ago to a still-solid 61st percentile. Overall, Hayesville Middle is the strongest middle school in its corner of western North Carolina, with genuine successes to build on and clear room for growth in the years ahead.