Best Public Schools in Zip Code 27258

Zip code 27258, in the Haw River area of North Carolina, is home to three schools serving roughly 2,305 students in grades PK–12. Southeast Alamance High (grades 9–12, 1,079 students) and Haw River Elementary (PK–5, 490 students) belong to Alamance-Burlington Schools, while Alamance Community School (K–8, 736 students) is its own district. No standalone middle school exists, so Alamance Community School is the only middle-grade option.

Southeast Alamance High is the standout performer, ranked in the 60th percentile of state high schools with a 3-star rating. It beats the state average in all four End-of-Course subjects and gained 12 to 19 points in every subject in a single year, even though over half of its students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Among younger grades, Alamance Community School is the stronger reading option: 8th grade reading proficiency is 71.9% versus 56.1% statewide, and its 14.6 student-teacher ratio is the lowest in the zip. Math is a consistent weakness, with 6th grade math at just 25.6% versus 59.2% statewide. Haw River Elementary is the highest-need school, ranking in the bottom 8% of elementary schools; nearly all of its students qualify for free/reduced lunch, its chronic absenteeism rate is 30.6%, and most proficiency rates trail the state by 10 to 39 points.

Families will find two very different experiences inside Alamance-Burlington Schools. Southeast Alamance High exceeds the state in every tested subject and graduates 86.9% of students, while Haw River Elementary sits near the bottom of the state. Chronic absenteeism helps explain the gap: Haw River's 30.6% rate is well above the state's 24.2%, while the other two schools sit near 20%. Alamance Community School offers a split profile — strong upper-grade reading and science, weak math — with stable rankings and the lowest student-teacher ratio in the zip. Haw River showed signs of a fragile turnaround: 5th grade math jumped from 19.4% to 52.2%, even as 4th grade scores fell to 22.5%. Overall, Southeast Alamance High is the clearest success story, Alamance Community School is the strongest small-classroom K–8 option, and Haw River Elementary is the school most in need of targeted support.