Summary:
Middle schools in zip code 27866 include just one school: W A Pattillo Middle, serving grades 6–8 in Tarboro, NC, within Edgecombe County Public Schools. This is a high-poverty school where nearly 99% of the 289 students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the district itself ranks in the bottom 13% of all NC districts, placing the school in a challenging academic context.
Looking at test scores, W A Pattillo performs close to its district average in math and reading but trails the state by roughly 20 to 26 percentage points in every subject. In the most recent year, 35.3% of students were proficient in math, 30.1% in reading, and 44.7% in science; state averages were 56.1%, 55.7%, and 68.6%, respectively. The school has ranked in the bottom 5–13% of North Carolina middle schools for three straight years. One of the biggest red flags is chronic absenteeism: 44% of students are chronically absent, which is about double the state rate and 5 points above the district. With so many students missing class and nearly all students facing economic hardship, it is not surprising that achievement is low.
There are some signs of progress, though. After a particularly weak 7th-grade year in 2024–2025, 7th grade math jumped from 15.7% to 28.6% proficiency, and reading improved from 13.5% to 37.7%. Eighth-grade math and science also improved year over year. However, large swings in other grades—like 6th grade reading falling 18 points—suggest unstable student cohorts, high mobility, and other effects that make progress unpredictable. Overall, W A Pattillo is a high-poverty school with serious attendance problems and achievement far below state averages. Its strengths are relative: slight outperformance of the district in math and clear improvement in 7th grade, but without tackling absenteeism and grade-level inconsistency, the school is likely to remain near the bottom of state rankings.
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