Summary
Phoenix Academy is a very small alternative school in Oxford, NC, serving just 17 students across grades 3 through 12, where over 80% of students come from economically disadvantaged households. This school, part of Granville County Schools, faces challenges that set it apart dramatically from every other school in the region.
The most defining issue at Phoenix Academy is a crisis in student attendance. In the 2024–2025 school year, a staggering 88.2% of students were chronically absent, meaning they missed a significant portion of the school year. This rate has more than doubled in just three years, going from 36.1% in 2021–2022, and is more than double the district's own rate of 40.9%. Even Granville Academy, the other alternative school in the same district with an even higher poverty rate, reported a chronic absenteeism rate of just 33.3% in the same year. Not surprisingly, academic outcomes are exceptionally low. Proficiency rates on state tests consistently fall between 5% and 15%, far below district and state averages. For example, 8th-grade reading proficiency was just 7.7%, compared to 61.7% at Granville Academy and 44.9% for the district. Schools within a short drive, such as Oxford Preparatory, post proficiency rates above 90% in some subjects.
Despite these results, Phoenix Academy spends an extraordinary $32,167 per student—roughly four times the amount spent at Granville Academy, which logs just $7,924 per student. It also maintains a very low student-teacher ratio of 8.5, suggesting a high level of individual attention. The fact that outcomes remain so weak despite this level of investment points to challenges that go far beyond classroom resources. The trend suggests that re-engaging students and solving the attendance crisis would need to be the first priority before any meaningful academic progress is possible for the students at Phoenix Academy.
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