Schools in Zip Code 28358

ZIP code 28358 in North Carolina contains 11 schools — 8 elementary, 2 middle, and 1 high school — serving roughly 6,561 students in a high-poverty area where nearly every traditional public school has between 97.8% and 99.5% of students eligible for free/reduced-price lunch. These schools belong to two very different systems: the Public Schools of Robeson County, a district ranked in the bottom quarter of North Carolina, and Southeastern Academy, a K-8 school district ranked in the top 5% statewide.

For parents, the clearest standout is Southeastern Academy, where 8th-grade math proficiency is 91.3%, reading beats state averages in nearly every grade, and chronic absenteeism is just 10.2% — far below the state rate of 24.2%. Among Robeson County schools, East Robeson Primary and Littlefield Middle are the strongest traditional options, posting near-state-average 3rd-grade math and middle-school proficiency rates in the 49–57% range despite serving student bodies that are over 99% low-income. On the other end, L Gilbert Carroll (7th percentile statewide) and Lumberton Junior (4th percentile statewide) are the most struggling, with math and reading proficiency often between 20% and 29%.

These early differences matter: elementary schools feeding Lumberton Junior produce much weaker PK-3 outcomes than those feeding Littlefield Middle, so the gap widens by middle school. Chronic absenteeism is the most consistent warning sign — Lumberton Senior High exceeds 54%, even though it made major one-year gains on state exams and graduates students at roughly the state rate. Spending alone does not explain results, since the highest-spending school (W H Knuckles) shows weak scores while the lowest-spending (Littlefield Middle) is a bright spot. Overall, this ZIP code offers a few strong choices, but parents should weigh attendance patterns, early-grade results, and school-level comparisons carefully.