Summary:
Zip code 28479 contains one middle school, Town Creek Middle, serving grades 6 through 8 in Winnabow, North Carolina, a rural community within Brunswick County Schools.
Town Creek Middle is a moderately sized school with about 540 students and an exceptionally high poverty rate — 99.44% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Despite this challenge, the school performs near or above district and state averages in most subjects. It earned 3 stars in both recent school years after a 2-star rating previously, and its statewide ranking improved from the 47th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 55th–57th percentile range since then. Its strongest area is 6th-grade math, where 68.2% of students are proficient — 7 points above the district and 9 points above the state. Reading scores are steady across grades, with 7th graders posting a 59% proficiency rate that beats the state by 2.7 points. The school also keeps chronic absenteeism at 20.8%, which is lower than the district (24.5%) and state (24.2%) averages — a positive sign for engagement given the high poverty level.
The most notable concern is 8th-grade science, where proficiency slipped to 63.1% — below both the district (69.7%) and state (68.6%). This is especially striking because the prior year's 8th-grade science results, at 66.2%, were above district and state averages. Math performance also declines by grade level, dropping from 68.2% in 6th grade to 51.1% in 8th grade, though this pattern mirrors broader trends. Overall, Town Creek Middle is a high-poverty school doing moderately well: it generally outperforms its district in reading and math, holds a solid mid-to-upper-middle statewide position, and benefits from a district that ranks in the 65th percentile of North Carolina districts. Parents should see this as a stable, improving school with particular strengths in early middle-school math and reading, and with room for growth in 8th-grade science.
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