Best Public Schools in Zip Code 27705

Zip code 27705 in Durham, North Carolina contains five elementary schools (the two charter schools are K-8): three traditional Durham Public Schools campuses — Forest View Elementary, Hillandale Elementary, and E K Powe Elementary — and two charter schools, Community School of Digital & Visual Art and Global Scholars Academy. Combined enrollment is about 2,100 students, with the DPS schools ranging from 454 to 662 students and the charters at roughly 200 each. Poverty is nearly universal, with free/reduced-price lunch rates from 98.51% to 99.55%.

Despite those similar demographics, outcomes differ sharply. E K Powe Elementary is the clear standout, holding the zip code's highest 2025-26 ranking (858 of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools; 42nd percentile, 2 stars) and leading the Durham Public Schools in the area with grade 3–5 proficiency of 56.9% in math and 53.3% in reading. Its 4th grade reading proficiency of 62.5% beats both the district average of 51.0% and the state average of 57.7%, while 5th grade math (60.7%) also tops the district. Forest View Elementary is the second-strongest school and is improving, climbing from the 28th to the 37th percentile over three years; its 5th grade reading rate of 57.1% exceeds both the district and state averages.

The biggest concerns are Hillandale Elementary and the two charters. Hillandale ranks 1,377th of 1,492 (8th percentile, 0 stars), with math and reading proficiency about 16 and 19 points below E K Powe Elementary — even though it has the best attendance in the zip (18.1% chronic absenteeism versus a 36.1% district average), a reminder that attendance alone does not drive achievement. Global Scholars Academy and Community School of Digital & Visual Art both sit in the 13th percentile. Global Scholars has the highest chronic absenteeism here (41.5%) and reading proficiency averaging just 28.6%, while Community School posts extremely low 8th grade math proficiency (6.3%); both enroll only about 200 students, so scores swing widely from year to year. In the end, no school in 27705 exceeds 2 stars, but E K Powe Elementary and Forest View Elementary demonstrate that schools serving nearly 100% low-income students can still post results that rival or beat district and state averages.