Summary:
Zip code 27205 is home to just one middle school — Southwestern Randolph Middle School — serving grades 6 through 8 with 467 students as part of the Randolph County School System. Since there are no other middle schools in this zip code to compare against, the best frame of reference is how this school stacks up against district and state averages.
Southwestern Randolph Middle School is a high-poverty school, with 99.36% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, yet it performs above its district in every tested subject and grade level in both the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 school years. Against the state, its 6th and 7th graders are consistently strong: in 2025–2026 all four 6th- and 7th-grade math and reading scores exceeded state averages, with 7th grade math coming in 8 points higher and 6th grade reading 6.4 points higher. The school has also earned a 3-star state rating for three straight years and improved from the 50th percentile to the 66th before settling at the 57th percentile in 2025–2026, placing it solidly in the middle of North Carolina middle schools.
The clearest area of concern is 8th grade. In the most recent year, 8th graders fell below state averages in math (49.7% vs. 53.0%), reading (49.0% vs. 56.1%), and science (64.5% vs. 68.6%) — a sharp contrast to the prior year when 8th grade reading was 9.4 points above the state. Chronic absenteeism, however, is a bright spot: at 20.8%, it is below both the district's 22.5% and the state's 24.2%, a meaningful achievement for a school with near-universal poverty. Simply put, parents in this area have one stable, mid-ranked middle school that excels in the lower grades and outperforms its district everywhere, but they may want to watch how 8th-grade support evolves.
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