Summary:
Zip code 28110 in Monroe, North Carolina, is served by one middle school, Piedmont Middle, which enrolls 980 students in grades 6 through 8 and is part of the highly rated Union County Public Schools district.
Piedmont Middle is an above-average North Carolina school with a 4-star state rating, ranking in the 73rd percentile of middle schools statewide. Its strongest subject is math, where proficiency rates at every grade level (69–73%) are well above state averages (53–59%). Eighth-grade science is also strong at 72.9% proficiency, easily surpassing the state’s 68.6% rate. Notably, while math proficiency across North Carolina typically declines from 6th to 8th grade, at Piedmont Middle it actually rises, with 8th-grade math hitting 72.9% compared to the state’s 53.0%. The school also made a striking one-year gain in 6th-grade reading, jumping from 51.4% to 65.0%. Chronic absenteeism affects 18.5% of students, which is above the district's 14.6% but well below the state's 24.2%.
The most significant concern is reading, especially in the upper grades. In 7th and 8th grade, reading proficiency is 57.7% and 55.7% respectively—each 12.6 percentage points below the district average. Eighth-grade reading slipped 5 points from the prior year and is the only subject where Piedmont Middle falls below the state average (55.7% vs. 56.1%). Reading proficiency also declines steadily by grade, unlike the district and state, which remain stable. This creates a sharp contrast: the same 8th graders who post 72.9% proficiency in math manage only 55.7% in reading. Overall, Piedmont Middle lags its district in every tested subject, yet it consistently beats state averages. For parents, this means a school with genuine math and science strengths, a solid overall rating, and a clear area for improvement in upper-grade reading.
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