Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 27253

Zip code 27253 in Graham, North Carolina, is covered by two public middle schools for grades 6-8 — Southern Alamance Middle (822 students) and Graham Middle (553 students) — both part of the Alamance-Burlington Schools district, which ranks 179th out of 246 districts in the state (27th percentile). Although they draw from the same zip code, the schools differ sharply in performance. Southern Alamance Middle is the clear standout, earning a 2-star rating in 2025-2026 with a 32nd-percentile rank (527 of 778), a steady climb from the 23rd percentile in 2023-2024. Graham Middle, by contrast, sits at the bottom with a 0-star rating and a 5th-percentile rank (740 of 778) in 2025-2026.

The academic gap between the schools is wide and consistent. Averaging all EOG subject and grade-level results, Southern Alamance Middle posted 47.8% proficiency in 2025-2026 and 41.1% in 2024-2025, compared with just 27.2% and 19.4% at Graham Middle — a roughly 21-point gap in both years. The sharpest contrast came in 2024-2025 6th-grade math, where 48.2% of Southern students were proficient versus only 8.5% at Graham, a gap of nearly 40 points. Graham's reading and math scores fell below district and state averages in nearly every tested grade and subject in both years, while Southern outperformed the district in four of seven categories in 2025-2026.

Student needs help explain the divide. At Graham Middle, 99.46% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch and 43.6% are chronically absent, well above the district (30.0%) and state (24.2%). Southern Alamance Middle also faces meaningful challenges — 58.15% free/reduced eligibility and 35.0% chronic absenteeism — but at less extreme levels. Notably, Graham spends more per student ($9,053) than Southern ($8,216), yet its results trail badly, suggesting that funding alone isn't overcoming non-financial barriers. On a brighter note, 8th-grade science is the strongest subject at both schools — 62% proficiency at Southern and 33.5% at Graham — though both remain below the state average of 68.6%. Southern is clearly improving; Graham has remained stuck in the bottom 5% of North Carolina middle schools for three straight years.