Summary
Saint Pauls High is a large comprehensive high school in Saint Pauls, North Carolina, serving 1,142 students in grades 9-12. It is part of Public Schools of Robeson County, a district rated 1 star and ranked 190th out of 246 districts statewide. The school serves an almost universally economically disadvantaged student body — about 99.7% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch — which is important context for understanding its academic results. Saint Pauls High currently ranks at the 32nd percentile statewide, placing it in the lower-middle third of North Carolina high schools.
The school's clearest strength is its graduation rate. At 94.3%, it exceeds the district rate of 89.2%, the state rate of 88.8%, and nearly every nearby comprehensive high school, including Jack Britt High at 93.0%, Lumberton Senior High at 89.1%, and Douglas Byrd High at 78.4%. Chronic absenteeism, at 35.9%, is also lower than at most neighboring schools — South View High (49.0%), Red Springs High (51.0%), and Douglas Byrd High (64.5%) all struggle more with attendance. In addition, Saint Pauls serves its English Learner and special education students better than its overall rank implies: both subgroups ranked at the 58th percentile or higher statewide, earning 3 stars.
The biggest concern is Math I proficiency. Only 12.5% of students scored proficient on the Math I End-of-Course exam, far below the district average of 47.9% and below every nearby school, including Douglas Byrd High at 28.2%. What makes this unusual is that Math III proficiency reaches 67.3% — close to the state average of 68.9% — creating a 54.8-point gap between the two exams. The school has shown real progress in several areas: English II proficiency rose from 33.1% to 48.5% over three years, Math III proficiency climbed from 22.3% to 67.3%, and graduation rates improved from 85.2% to 94.3%. For parents, the picture is mixed: Saint Pauls clearly succeeds at keeping students enrolled and graduating, but the Math I results suggest an early high school math pipeline that deserves immediate attention.
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