Best Public Schools in Zip Code 28518

ZIP code 28518 contains two public schools in the Duplin County Schools district: Beulaville Elementary, which serves PK–8 with 877 students, and East Duplin High, which serves 9–12 with 864 students. Combined, they enroll about 1,741 students. The district is ranked 201st out of 246 in North Carolina with a 1-star rating, and a staggering 99.54 percent of students at both schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting near-universal economic disadvantage.

Beulaville Elementary is the brighter story. Its state percentile has risen from the 11th to the 16th over three years, and overall proficiency improved by about four points year over year. Notably, 8th-grade math proficiency hit 53.3 percent, essentially matching the state average and far exceeding the district's 38.3 percent. Fifth-grade math and 8th-grade science are also relative strengths. However, chronic absenteeism is a major concern: 28.6 percent of students are chronically absent, well above both the district rate of 18.9 percent and the state rate of 24.2 percent, and reading proficiency remains below 50 percent at most grade levels.

East Duplin High has the opposite profile. Attendance is a real strength — only 15.1 percent of students are chronically absent, well below state and district averages. Yet the school's ranking collapsed from the 37th percentile with 2 stars to the 17th percentile with 1 star in a single year, and proficiency fell across nearly every End-of-Course test. Math I dropped to 26.1 percent, English II fell to 35.5 percent, and Math III tumbled 12.7 points; only Biology improved, though it still trails the state. The graduation rate of 82.6 percent also sits below the state's 88.8 percent. In short, Beulaville Elementary appears to be building momentum in math and science, while East Duplin High needs to urgently reverse a sharp academic decline — despite its students consistently showing up to class.