Best High Schools in Zip Code 27713

Zip code 27713 in Durham, NC, contains a single high school, Research Triangle High School, serving grades 9–12 and operating as its own single-school district, Research Triangle High School. This publicly funded charter school enrolls 572 students with a notably low student-teacher ratio of 13.3:1, and it holds a 4-star rating from the state of North Carolina.

Because it is the only high school in the area, Research Triangle High School stands out on its own merits rather than through comparison with nearby schools. Its graduation rate is 94.3%, well above the state average of 88.8%, and only 13.1% of students are chronically absent compared to 24.2% statewide. The strongest academic subject is English II, where 87.2% of students scored proficient in 2025–26 versus a 64.6% state average. On state End-of-Course exams, the school outperformed North Carolina in seven of eight subject-by-year comparisons, including Biology (70.2% vs. 58.5%) and Math III (78.5% vs. 68.9%). Its district-level rank is 41st out of 246 North Carolina districts, placing it in the 83rd percentile statewide.

However, a few trends warrant attention. Math I proficiency dropped from 46.0% in 2024–25 (11.6 points above the state) to 41.5% in 2025–26 (0.6 points below the state), making it the school's only tested subject trailing the state average. Math III also declined from 85.1% to 78.5%, narrowing the school's advantage over the state from +18.7 to +9.6 points. This creates a striking literacy-versus-math gap: English II proficiency (87.2%) exceeds Math I proficiency (41.5%) by 45.7 points, far larger than the state's gap. Additionally, the school's statewide rank slipped from 142nd (78th percentile) in 2024–25 to 194th (71st percentile) in 2025–26, even though it retained its 4-star rating. Without reported free/reduced lunch data, the economic profile remains unclear, but the combination of very low chronic absenteeism, a high graduation rate, and consistently strong English performance paints a generally positive picture of this high school.