George L Carrington Middle

George L Carrington Middle is a grades 6–8 middle school in Durham, NC, that enrolls about 771 students and is part of Durham Public Schools, a district that itself ranks at the 37th percentile statewide. Carrington ranks in the bottom quarter of North Carolina middle schools — 635th out of 778, landing in the 18th percentile with a 1-star rating. Nearly all of its students (99.61%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and per-pupil spending of $10,263 is on the low end compared with nearby Durham middle schools.

On 2025–2026 state tests, Carrington trails both district and state averages in every subject and grade level. In 8th grade, only 33.6% of students are proficient in math (versus 53.0% statewide) and 36.6% are proficient in reading (versus 56.1% statewide). Chronic absenteeism is a defining problem: 45.8% of students were chronically absent in 2024–2025, nearly double the state rate, and that figure has held above 42% for five straight years. In contrast, nearby schools serving very similar student populations — like Rogers-Herr Middle and Lakewood Montessori Middle — rank in the 83rd and 82nd percentiles statewide, with chronic absenteeism of just 18.7% and 6.8%.

Those comparisons show that high poverty does not have to mean low achievement, and they point to attendance as a key lever for improvement at Carrington. The school has also lost ground in an area that was once a relative strength: 8th-grade science proficiency has fallen steadily from 65.2% in 2022–2023 to 47.1% in 2025–2026. Outcomes for English learners, special education students, and low-income students are especially weak compared with state averages. For parents, the bottom line is that Carrington faces serious, persistent academic and attendance challenges, but comparable Durham schools prove that stronger results are possible with the right supports.