Summary
Hanes Magnet School is a middle school in Winston Salem, NC, serving 967 students in grades 6–8 as part of the Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools district. Hanes currently ranks 419th out of 778 North Carolina middle schools — the 46th percentile, a 2-star rating. That's a significant change from its recent past: in 2017-18, the school ranked in the top 15% statewide with a 4-star rating. The downward slide has leveled off over the last two years, but Hanes has not yet regained its former standing.
Compared with nearby schools, Hanes is the middle performer in an uneven field. It clearly outperforms lower-ranked neighbors like Konnoak Middle School, Wiley Magnet Middle, and Paisley Magnet School, often by 10 to 25 percentage points in reading and math. Yet both Thomas Jefferson Middle and Clemmons Middle consistently post stronger results — Thomas Jefferson's 8th-grade math proficiency is nearly 30 points higher than Hanes'. Among the area's three magnet middle schools, Hanes is the highest-performing traditional magnet. It generally beats its district average on state tests, though it lands around or slightly below the state average in most grades and subjects. One bright spot is 7th grade reading, where Hanes exceeds both district and state averages by a wide margin.
Two challenges stand out. First, 8th-grade scores have slipped sharply: math proficiency fell from 57% to 41% over four years, and science dropped from 76% to 59%, while 6th and 7th grade results held steady or improved. Second, chronic absenteeism affects about one in three students — well above the state rate of 24% and higher than Thomas Jefferson's 20%. Hanes also shows wide achievement gaps internally: some student groups, including gifted students, perform at elite levels statewide, while economically disadvantaged, English learner, and special education students rank in the bottom 10–15% of North Carolina schools. Nearly every nearby middle school serves a similarly high-poverty population, so school-level factors like attendance and instruction — rather than poverty alone — likely explain the differences. Per-pupil spending data, though dated, also shows Hanes operating with fewer resources than several lower-performing area schools.
Thank you for your feedback!