Summary:
Zip code 28429 in Castle Hayne, NC, is home to two small public high schools serving grades 9 through 12 with a combined enrollment of about 497 students. Both schools belong to New Hanover County Schools, and despite serving student bodies where roughly 99% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, they are among the highest-performing high schools in the state.
SEA-Technical is the standout school in the zip code, ranked #57 out of 662 North Carolina high schools for 2025–26 and earning a 5-star rating. It has climbed steadily from #104 to #86 to #57 over the past three years and posted the strongest proficiency rates in most subjects, including 93.2% in Biology, 95.5% in English II, and 88.9% in Math I. Wilmington Early College High is also high-performing, ranked #119 with a 4-star rating, though its state ranking has slipped slightly from #95 over the same period. Wilmington Early College still achieved a perfect 100% proficiency on the Math III EOC and 92.1% on English II. Both schools dramatically outperform district and state averages in every tested subject, and their chronic absenteeism rates below 9% are less than one-third of the district and state rates of roughly 24%.
Notable resource differences help explain SEA-Technical’s edge: it spends about $13,361 per student versus $8,673 at Wilmington Early College and has a 13.6-to-1 student–teacher ratio, compared with 20.6-to-1. SEA-Technical also leads in Biology by nearly 24 percentage points. However, Wilmington Early College’s perfect Math III score and strong literacy results show that both schools are delivering exceptional outcomes in a high-need community.
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