Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 28303

ZIP code 28303, in the Fayetteville, NC area, contains just one middle school, Westover Middle, which serves grades 6 through 8 and is part of the Cumberland County Schools district. With 768 students, Westover Middle is the sole option for middle school families living in this ZIP code, and it operates in an extremely high-need environment: 98.05% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school’s chronic absenteeism rate reached 47.7% in 2024–2025. This is nearly double the state average of 24.2% and well above the district’s 33.7%, making absenteeism the most urgent concern identified in the data. The student-to-teacher ratio is 17.6.

Westover Middle’s overall state ranking has been volatile. It ranked 583rd out of 793 North Carolina middle schools in 2023–2024 (26th percentile), improved to 486th in 2024–2025 (37th percentile), then fell back to 583rd in 2025–2026 (25th percentile, 1 star). This pattern suggests gains were fragile and not sustained. In the most recent 2025–2026 testing data, the school trails district and state averages in every subject and grade. Proficiency gaps are largest in 8th-grade science, where 54.0% of students are proficient compared to 67.0% districtwide and 68.6% statewide, and in mathematics, where 8th-grade proficiency is just 34.1% versus 45.8% in the district and 53.0% across North Carolina. Reading proficiency also declines by grade level, from 53.2% in 6th grade to 42.9% in 8th grade.

There are a few bright spots worth noting. In 2024–2025, Westover Middle beat district averages in 6th-grade math, 8th-grade math, and 6th-grade reading, and it outperformed the state in 6th-grade reading by 1.3 percentage points. That relative strength in early middle school reading continued into 2025–2026, when 6th-grade reading proficiency (53.2%) nearly matched the district and fell only 1.6 points short of the state. However, the overall picture is one of a high-poverty school with large academic deficits and persistent absenteeism. For parents evaluating schools in this area, Westover Middle is the only local choice, and the most important priorities appear to be improving attendance, stabilizing performance across grade levels, and addressing the significant gaps in math and science that emerge by 7th and 8th grade.