Schools in Zip Code 28457

Zip code 28457, serving the Rocky Point area of North Carolina, is home to five public schools within the Pender County Schools district — two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one alternative school — enrolling about 2,136 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. This is an exceptionally high-need area: all four traditional schools report free/reduced-lunch eligibility above 99%. The district ranks 120th of 246 North Carolina districts, near the statewide median.

Rocky Point Elementary is the strongest all-around school in the zip code, ranking in the 47th percentile of North Carolina elementary schools and producing 5th-grade results at or above state averages in both reading and math — the only school in the area to do so. Cape Fear Elementary, despite its reading struggles, excels in 5th-grade science at 73.5% proficiency, above the state's 67.7%. Cape Fear Middle shows a bright spot in 8th-grade math, where 61.3% of students are proficient, beating both district and state averages. Heide Trask High, the area's only traditional high school, has the lowest state ranking at the 18th percentile, yet its 92.0% graduation rate exceeds the state's 88.8%. The small Pender Innovative Learning Academy serves just 38 students and reports a 51.7% chronic absenteeism rate, more than double the district rate.

Reading is the most consistent concern, with proficiency running 15 to 20 points below state averages across many grades, from 3rd grade through high school English II. Heide Trask High did improve in every End-of-Course subject year over year — Biology jumped from 23.0% to 39.1% — but the school still sits in the bottom fifth statewide. Large year-to-year swings, such as Rocky Point Elementary's 16-point drop in 3rd-grade math, show how much student-cohort changes can influence results at smaller schools. Since no ranked school in the zip code currently exceeds the 47th percentile, this cluster generally trails its already mid-level district. The data point to literacy and attendance as the top priorities, while pockets of success in upper-grade math and science demonstrate that progress is achievable.