Summary:
Zip code 28214 is served by three middle schools — Whitewater Middle, Coulwood STEM Academy, and Wilson STEM Academy — all part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, serving roughly 1,819 students in grades 6-8 from a community where essentially every student qualifies for income-based meal support.
Coulwood is the clear standout. It ranks in the 66th percentile statewide with a 3-star rating, and its math proficiency (about 71%) and 8th-grade science proficiency (about 82%) are far above both CMS and state averages. Reading is its relative weak spot at about 50% proficiency, but it is still the strongest reading performance in the cluster. Whitewater Middle sits in the middle, ranking in the 25th percentile with math near 46% and reading near 40%. Its results are volatile: an impressive 65.5% 8th-grade math score in 2024-25 fell to 45.3% in the latest year. Wilson STEM Academy is the most challenged, ranking in the 14th percentile with a 1-star rating, and its math, reading, and science scores all trail district and state averages by wide margins.
Similar poverty levels do not produce similar results: Coulwood's math proficiency is roughly 31 points higher than Wilson's. Chronic absenteeism is a serious concern everywhere, affecting 52.4% of Wilson students, 38.1% at Whitewater, and 36.6% at Coulwood — all well above the CMS average of 26.8% and the state average of 24.2%. Reading is the cluster-wide weak spot, with no school reaching the state average. The STEM label does not predict strong STEM outcomes: Coulwood is academically strong in those subjects, while Wilson, also a STEM academy, posts the lowest math and science scores in the group. Wilson also has the highest student-teacher ratio at 19.4, which may signal a need for additional staffing investment.
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