Summary:
Zip code 28372 is home to just one high school: Purnell Swett High in Pembroke, North Carolina, serving grades 9 through 12 with about 1,583 students as part of Public Schools of Robeson County. Nearly every student at the school (99.49%) qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, making it an extremely high-poverty school. It currently ranks 478th out of 662 North Carolina high schools, placing it in the 28th percentile with a 1-star rating, down from a 2-star rating a few years ago.
The most pressing challenge at Purnell Swett High is chronic absenteeism. A striking 62.6% of students are chronically absent, compared to 42.1% for the district and 24.2% statewide. Despite this, the school graduates students at a slightly above-average rate: 89.6%, versus 88.8% across the state. On End-of-Course tests, the school trails both district and state averages in all four subjects. Proficiency ranges from 31.4% in Math I and 40.6% in Biology to 51.6% in English II and 63.1% in Math III. By comparison, the state averages are 42.1% in Math I, 58.5% in Biology, 64.6% in English II, and 68.9% in Math III.
There are some encouraging signs. Math III proficiency (63.1%) is closest to the state average, and it sits far above the school's own Math I proficiency — a 31.7-point gap that suggests students who persist to upper-level math perform relatively well. The school also posted large year-to-year gains in Biology (up 16.8 points) and English II (up 15.9 points), though different student cohorts are tested each year. Still, the school has remained stuck in the bottom third of state rankings for three years running. For parents, the bottom line is that Purnell Swett High faces steep hurdles tied to poverty and absenteeism, but it does move most students to graduation and shows recent academic improvement — especially in advanced math.
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