Best High Schools in Zip Code 28398

Zip code 28398 contains just one public high school, James Kenan High, which serves grades 9–12 in Warsaw, NC, within Duplin County Schools. The school enrolls 758 students, and 99.6% qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a very high-poverty student body. James Kenan currently holds a 1-star rating and ranks in the bottom 14% of North Carolina high schools, down from the 21st percentile the previous year. Its student-teacher ratio is 15.3 to 1, and per-student spending was reported at $9,706 for the 2018–2019 school year.

Despite the economic challenges, chronic absenteeism is a relative bright spot: 18.8% of students are chronically absent, better than the state’s 24.2% and nearly identical to the district’s 18.9%. However, the graduation rate is 79.7%, which is 4.3 points below the district and 9.1 points below the state. All End-of-Course test proficiency rates fall short of both district and state averages. The strongest subject is Math III, with 56.5% proficient, while Math I is a serious concern at 22.5% proficient — meaning more than three-quarters of students are below grade level in that subject. English II proficiency stands at 39.7%, and Biology at 31.3%.

Year-over-year results show a mixed picture. English II improved by 7.1 points and Biology by 4.6 points, but Math I dropped by 5.2 points, and the school’s state percentile ranking fell from 21st to 14th even as some subjects improved. The large gap between Math I and Math III suggests that the students who advance to Math III are a more select group, not necessarily that the whole student body is progressing in math. Given the relatively low absenteeism rate, the graduation shortfall likely stems from academic readiness and credit completion rather than attendance. In short, James Kenan High is an underperforming school relative to the state, but it is only modestly behind its district in most subjects. The clearest priority for improvement is early high school math, since strengthening Math I proficiency would likely boost both graduation rates and overall performance.