Summary:
ZIP code 27960 contains one school, Ocracoke School, a PK–12 alternative school in the small island community of Ocracoke, North Carolina, serving 139 students as part of Hyde County Schools.
Ocracoke School stands out for its unusual structure and strong academics. It is an alternative school that serves every grade level from pre-K through 12th grade, which is rare. In the 2025–2026 school year, it outperformed the state in nearly every reported subject, with perfect proficiency scores in English II and Math III end-of-course exams and 88.2% proficiency in Biology, compared to a state average of 58.5%. Several grade-level results were also exceptional: 100% in 3rd grade math, 90% in 3rd grade reading, and 94.1% in 6th grade reading. The school’s student-teacher ratio is a very low 9.1:1, and per-pupil spending is high at $20,156, reflecting the costs of serving a small, remote island community. Its graduation rate of 90.9% is above the state average of 88.8%, and the district itself earns a 3-star rating, ranking 117th out of 246 districts in North Carolina.
Parents should note that results can swing sharply from year to year because each grade has only about 10–15 students. For example, 3rd grade reading jumped from 50% proficiency in 2024–2025 to 90% in 2025–2026, and 3rd grade math rose from 62.5% to 100%. While most scores are strong, some primary grade results are closer to state averages, such as 4th grade math at 61.1%. Chronic absenteeism is 24.2%, matching the state average exactly but slightly higher than the district’s 22.9%, meaning about one in four students misses enough school to be considered chronically absent. Overall, Ocracoke School is a high-performing, tightly knit community school with impressive outcomes, though its small size means individual student performance strongly influences overall statistics.
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