Roseboro-Salemburg Middle

Roseboro-Salemburg Middle serves 394 students in grades 6–8 in Roseboro, NC, and is part of Sampson County Schools. The school currently holds a 1-star rating, ranking 638 out of 778 middle schools statewide at the 18th percentile — a steep decline from its 3-star standing in 2018–19. With 99.24% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the school serves an almost entirely economically disadvantaged population, and chronic absenteeism sits at 33.6%, well above the district's 25.3% and the state's 24.2%.

Academically, the school trails its district and the state in nearly every grade and subject. Math gaps are especially wide: 8th-grade math proficiency is 34.3%, compared with the state's 53.0%. Among the middle schools in Sampson County Schools, only Union Middle ranks lower. Hobbton Middle and Midway Middle both outperform the school by wide margins, despite serving very similar student populations. Hobbton, for example, has an equally high poverty rate yet posts a 62.4% proficiency rate in 6th-grade math, versus Roseboro's 40.9%. This suggests the challenges here go beyond economic disadvantage alone.

Attendance and class size stand out as clear differences. Chronic absenteeism runs roughly five points higher than at Hobbton Middle and Midway Middle, and the student-teacher ratio of 21.8 is several students larger than at most comparable schools, making individualized support more difficult. There are still bright spots: English Learner students have ranked above the statewide midpoint for three consecutive years, and recent gains in 8th-grade science and math were substantial. Overall, though, results remain uneven, and the school appears to still be working to recover from a significant post-2019 decline. For parents, the most important takeaway is that while Roseboro-Salemburg Middle shows pockets of effectiveness, students may need extra academic and attendance support to thrive.