First Flight Middle School

First Flight Middle School serves 604 students in grades 6–8 in Kill Devil Hills, NC, and is part of Dare County Schools. It ranks 121st out of 778 North Carolina middle schools (84th percentile) with a 4-star SchoolDigger rating, making it clearly the stronger middle school in the immediate area. The nearest comparable school, Manteo Middle School, is smaller with 383 students and ranks 377th statewide (52nd percentile, 3 stars).

Academically, First Flight outpaces Manteo by double digits in nearly every tested grade and subject. In the most recent testing year, 6th-grade math proficiency was 71.4 percent versus 53.8 percent at Manteo, 7th-grade reading was 73.4 percent versus 55.8 percent, and 8th-grade science reached 90.2 percent versus 72.1 percent. Science is the school's signature subject, with roughly nine in ten eighth graders proficient in several recent years. First Flight also tops district and state averages in every tested area, with its biggest edges in 8th-grade science and in 7th- and 8th-grade reading.

First Flight also stands out for supporting students who often face greater educational barriers. Its special education students perform in the 94th percentile compared with similar students statewide, and its economically disadvantaged students rank in the 85th percentile — a noteworthy result given that the school serves a smaller share of low-income students than Manteo (about 33 percent versus 47 percent receive free/reduced lunch), yet still gets strong results from those students. Boys and girls perform about equally well, both near the mid-80s percentile. Parents should know two caveats: the chronic absenteeism rate has climbed to about 36 percent, far above the state's 24 percent, even while test scores stayed high; and students learning English have shown inconsistent results from year to year, though they recently rebounded close to the state median. All told, First Flight is a strong, reliable choice in the area, with standout science instruction and unusually good support for special education and low-income students.