Summary
Grantham Middle is a grades 5–8 public school in Goldsboro, NC, serving 301 students in Wayne County Public Schools. After several years of dramatic improvement, Grantham enters the 2025-26 school year with a 3-star rating and a statewide rank of 326th out of 778 North Carolina middle schools, a striking jump from the 11th percentile just three years earlier. The school serves a very high-poverty community, with 99% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Chronic absenteeism has dropped from 56.5% during the 2021-22 school year to 35.8% today, though it remains above the state average of 24.2%.
Grantham's clearest academic strength is mathematics. In every tested grade, students outperform both district and state averages in math, with especially impressive results in 6th grade (74.2% proficient versus 59.2% statewide) and 7th grade (70.7% proficient versus 56.2% statewide). Reading is improving quickly but remains the relative weak spot; by 8th grade, only 45.2% of students are proficient in reading, roughly 11 points below the state average. The school is also unusually effective for historically underserved student groups, ranking in the 84th percentile statewide for low-income students, the 85th for African American students, the 86th for special education students, and the 82nd for English learners. The limited data available for gifted and talented students, however, suggests this group may need more attention.
Grantham now ranks as one of the strongest middle schools in Wayne County, trailing only Spring Creek Middle among nearby peers and sitting well ahead of Brogden Middle, Dillard Middle, and Rosewood Middle. Interestingly, Rosewood, which has a similar overall rank, posts stronger 8th grade reading and science scores, suggesting Grantham's turnaround is most pronounced in the early middle grades. The path ahead for Grantham will involve sharpening upper-grade literacy, continuing to lower chronic absenteeism, and ensuring the school's highest-achieving students are challenged enough to keep pace with the rest of the school's remarkable progress.
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