Summary:
ZIP code 27610 in Raleigh is served by two middle schools within Wake County Schools, a top-quartile district in North Carolina. Both schools serve grades 6–8, but they represent vastly different educational realities: Carnage Middle is a large, high-achieving school with 924 students, while River Oaks Middle is an unusual micro-school enrolling just 7 students, whose statistics should be interpreted with great caution.
For parents, the clear standout is Carnage Middle, a consistently strong 4-star school. It currently ranks in the 85th percentile statewide (120 out of 778 middle schools) and has ranked in the 89th percentile in prior years. Carnage beats both the Wake County Schools district average and the state average in nearly every EOG subject, with reading and math proficiency rates typically in the 69–76% range. Its chronic absenteeism rate is notably low at 13.7%, roughly half the state average of 24.2%, and it has a healthy 15:1 student-teacher ratio. By contrast, River Oaks Middle ranks near the bottom of the state (2nd–5th percentile), reports very low proficiency rates, and has a staggering 50.5% chronic absenteeism rate. However, with only 7 students, one student’s performance can swing the school’s percentages by more than 10 points.
The two schools differ dramatically in resources as well. River Oaks Middle shows much higher per-pupil spending ($33,564 versus $9,215 at Carnage Middle) and an extremely low 0.3 student-teacher ratio, reflecting the high fixed costs of running a tiny school. River Oaks also serves a student population whose needs are likely quite different from a typical zoned middle school, which helps explain its unusual data profile. For families, the practical takeaway is that Carnage Middle is the dependable, academically excellent choice in this ZIP code, while River Oaks Middle should be evaluated individually given its specialized nature and extremely small size.
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