Best Public Schools in Zip Code 27835

ZIP code 27835 contains just one public school, PCS Early College High School, which serves grades 9–12 in the Winterville/Warren Drive area of North Carolina and is part of Pitt County Schools. If you are looking at schools in this area, that single high school is the entire story, and it is an impressive one: PCS Early College High School has earned a 5-star rating and is currently ranked 15th out of 662 high schools statewide, placing it in the 98th percentile for the 2025–2026 school year. Its graduation rate is 94.2%, which is well above both Pitt County Schools’ rate of 86.4% and the state average of 88.8%, giving parents strong reason to expect that students who enroll will stay on track to graduate.

Academically, the school is a clear outlier. On every End-of-Course exam, proficiency rates are near-universal: Biology at 98.6%, English II at 97.4%, Math I at 95.6%, and Math III at 98.3%. In comparison, state averages range from 42.1% in Math I to 68.9% in Math III, meaning the school posts advantages of 29 to over 53 percentage points in each subject. This is not a one-year fluke. The school has climbed in state ranking for three consecutive years—from 31st to 24th to 15th—and it has even hit 100% proficiency in English II in a recent year. Notably, 99.1% of its 334 students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a poverty level that usually correlates with lower test scores, yet the school still far exceeds both the district and the state.

What drives this success is likely the early college model, which combines high school coursework with opportunities to earn college credit and often attracts highly motivated students. Chronic absenteeism is low at 6.2% (compared with recent district and state figures above 20%), and the student-to-teacher ratio of 23.3 is not unusually small, meaning the outcomes are not simply a matter of class size. Pitt County Schools overall ranks near the middle of North Carolina districts, but this one high school is a statewide academic power. For parents in ZIP 27835, the key takeaway is that their local high school offers elite-level academics, strong graduation rates, and an environment where even students facing significant economic challenges perform at the very top of the state.