West Craven High

West Craven High in Vanceboro, NC, is a comprehensive public high school serving 751 students in grades 9–12 in the rural eastern part of the state; it belongs to the Craven County Board of Education district, where nearly every student (99.6%) comes from a low-income household. That poverty rate is comparable to nearby Jones Senior High School and Southside High, yet West Craven ranks in the 13th percentile statewide — 574th out of 662 high schools — earning 1 star and placing it below every other traditional high school in the area, including same-district New Bern High.

Academically, the school trails both its district and the state on every core end-of-course exam. The most pressing concern is Math I: only 16.8% of students scored proficient, compared with the 42.1% statewide average and the 45.8% proficiency at nearby Jones Senior High School. Biology (42.2%), English II (44.6%), and Math III (43.6%) also fall short of district and state averages. On a more positive note, the graduation rate rose to 79.2% from the mid-70s in recent years, and chronic absenteeism, while still high at 27.9%, has declined markedly since it peaked above 50% during the pandemic.

West Craven's decline has also been persistent: the school fell from the 39th percentile statewide in 2015–16 to the 13th percentile most recently, and outcomes are weak across nearly all student subgroups, including gifted learners and English Language Learners. One notable bright spot is that African American students improved from the 7th to the 22nd percentile. For parents, the important takeaway is that poverty alone does not explain these results — neighboring schools with almost identical poverty rates consistently outperform West Craven, which suggests meaningful improvement is possible. Science scores rebounded strongly this year as well, and the graduation rate is heading in the right direction. With sustained effort around algebra readiness, attendance, and support for all students, West Craven has a realistic path forward.