Summary:
Only one high school serves zip code 27864: SouthWest Edgecombe High. This school serves grades 9 through 12 in Pinetops, North Carolina, and is part of Edgecombe County Public Schools, a district ranked in the 13th percentile statewide. With 798 students and a 22:1 student-to-teacher ratio, this is a mid-sized school. However, it faces serious challenges tied to poverty: 99.5% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an extremely high concentration of economic disadvantage that shapes the school's learning environment.
Academically, SouthWest Edgecombe High is performing in the bottom 10% of North Carolina high schools, earning 0 stars in school year 2025–2026 with a rank of 605 out of 662 schools. Across four end-of-course exams (Biology, English II, Math I, and Math III), only about 28.8% of students are proficient, compared to 58.5% statewide. Math I is the weakest subject at 13.8% proficient, while Math III is the strongest at 44.3%. There are signs of progress: English II jumped from 27.1% to 36.1% in one year, and Math I proficiency more than doubled from 6.1%, though both remain far below state averages.
The most striking finding is the disconnect between graduation and achievement. The school graduates 86.0% of its students, above the district average of 84.1% and just below the state's 88.8%. Yet only about a quarter of students score proficient on state tests. Chronic absenteeism affects 30.2% of students, which is better than the district's 38.9% but higher than the statewide 24.2%. In short, parents should know SouthWest Edgecombe High is a high-poverty school where students are graduating at reasonable rates but often without demonstrated mastery of core subjects. Some academic improvements are underway, but the school has a long way to go.
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