Summary:
Zip code 27217 contains just one high school: Hugh M Cummings High, which serves grades 9 through 12 and enrolls approximately 807 students in Burlington, North Carolina, within the Alamance-Burlington Schools district. As the only high school located within the zip code, it has no direct in-zip comparison and plays an outsized role in serving the surrounding community.
The school's student body is almost entirely economically disadvantaged, with 98.76% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. In the 2025-2026 school year, Hugh M Cummings High ranked 567th out of 662 North Carolina high schools, placing it in the 14th percentile. That represents a meaningful improvement over the prior year, when the school ranked 594th out of 641 (7th percentile). However, the school still trails its district and state considerably: the graduation rate is 78.9% versus the district's 85.9% and the state's 88.8%, while chronic absenteeism is 51.7% — more than double the state rate of 24.2%. In every EOC subject, the school performs below both district and state averages, with the largest gaps found in Math III and English II.
Encouragingly, proficiency improved in all four EOC subjects year over year. Math I saw the strongest gain, jumping from 9.5% to 36.8% proficiency, while Biology, English II, and Math III also improved by between 7 and 14 points. Even with these gains, the school remains in the bottom quarter of North Carolina high schools. English II (38.3%) and Math III (41.2%) still show proficiency gaps of more than 26 points below the state, suggesting many students are not yet on track for college or career readiness. Given the severity of chronic absenteeism, improving attendance may be as important as academic interventions. Since no other high school exists inside zip code 27217, local families rely on Hugh M Cummings High as the sole public high school option available in the area.
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