M C S Noble Middle

M C S Noble Middle is a public school in Wilmington, NC, serving 690 students in grades 6–8 as part of New Hanover County Schools. In 2025–2026, Noble earned 4 stars and ranked at the 74th percentile of North Carolina middle schools—a solidly above-average performance. Academically, it exceeds district and state averages across most tested subjects and grades, with especially strong results in 6th and 7th grade math and reading, as well as 8th grade science. The clearest weak spot is 8th grade math, where only 57.8% of students are proficient—below the district’s 60.1% average, though still above the state.

Attendance is a genuine strength. Noble’s chronic absenteeism rate last year was 19.6%, compared to 23.8% for the district and 24.2% statewide. This is notable because many nearby schools—such as Williston Middle, Emma B Trask Middle, and Holly Shelter Middle—serve student populations where nearly all are economically disadvantaged, while only 38.3% of Noble’s students qualify for free/reduced lunch. That economic difference provides important context when comparing results with neighbors. Noble also stands out for its recent progress with English Learner students, who moved from the 33rd to the 87th percentile in just two years.

Looking at the longer picture, Noble’s statewide standing has slipped from a 5-star, 92nd-percentile school in 2017–2018 to its current 4-star level, though there is no sign of a collapse. The larger challenge is equity inside the building: subgroup rankings vary widely, with African American students at the 21st percentile and economically disadvantaged students at the 48th, compared with white students at the 70th and the school overall at the 74th. Compared with nearby schools, Noble sits in the middle—ahead of many high-poverty schools but behind lower-poverty ones like Charles P Murray Middle and Roland-Grise Middle.