Summary:
In zip code 28518, there is one public high school serving grades 9 through 12: East Duplin High in Beulaville, NC, which is part of Duplin County Schools. This is a very high-poverty school, with nearly all students (99.54%) eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and it has an enrollment of 864 students.
East Duplin High has seen a significant academic decline in the most recent school year. In 2024–2025, the school beat its district in all four End-of-Course subjects and beat the state in Math I and Math III. By 2025–2026, it dropped to a 1-star rating and fell from the 37th percentile to the 17th percentile in statewide rankings. Proficiency fell sharply in English II (down to 35.5%), Math I (down to 26.1%), and Math III (down to 56.4%), while Biology improved to 42.3%. English II is now the biggest weakness, sitting 29.1 points below the state average and 8.5 points below the district. Math III remains the strongest subject relative to others, but it is still 12.5 points below the state average.
One clear strength is attendance: the chronic absenteeism rate is 15.1%, which is much better than the district rate of 18.9% and the state rate of 24.2%. The graduation rate, however, is 82.6%—below the district’s 84.0% and the state’s 88.8%, meaning roughly 17 out of 100 students do not graduate in four years. The student-teacher ratio is 16.7 to 1, and per-student spending was $9,554. While the sharp one-year drop in test scores and rankings is concerning, the school’s strong attendance and prior ability to outperform its district suggest that student attendance is not the main barrier. Targeted support in English II and Math I will be critical to reversing the recent downward trend.
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