Best High Schools in Zip Code 27932

In zip code 27932, there is exactly one high school: John A Holmes High, serving grades 9–12 in Edenton, North Carolina, and it is the sole comprehensive high school for the Edenton-Chowan Schools district. With 554 students and a student–teacher ratio of 15.3, the school serves a population where nearly all students (99.46%) receive free or reduced-price lunch, making it a very high-poverty school. Because it is the only high school in the area, there are no other local schools to compare it against, so the most useful benchmarks are North Carolina state averages and the school’s own year-to-year trends.

John A Holmes High has several strengths worth highlighting for parents. The graduation rate is 91.9%, which is 3.1 percentage points above the state average of 88.8%. In English II, 66.4% of students scored proficient in 2025-2026, edging past the state average of 64.6%. The school also earned a 2-star rating in both 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, up from 1 star the year before. However, there are serious concerns as well. Most notably, Math I proficiency stands at just 14.1%, compared to the state average of 42.1%—a staggering 28-point gap. Chronic absenteeism is also elevated at 26.9%, slightly above the state’s 24.2%. These challenges are significant, especially given the school’s near-universal poverty rate, but they do not erase the positive gains in other subjects.

The school’s improvement story is mixed when looking at recent changes. From 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, English II proficiency improved by 8.4 points, Math III jumped by 10.8 points, and Biology improved by 7.1 points. Meanwhile, Math I proficiency fell by 7.4 points, even as the state improved in that subject, widening an already large gap. The school currently ranks at the 37th percentile of North Carolina high schools and has held that position for two straight years, while its district ranks in the 26th percentile overall. For parents, the bottom line is that John A Holmes High graduates students at a rate above the state and is making real progress in literacy and advanced math, but the very low Math I proficiency signals a foundational algebra problem that should be the top priority moving forward.