Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 28521

Zip code 28521 is served by a single school: Chinquapin Elementary, a PK-8 school with 537 students in the small town of Chinquapin, NC, operating within the Duplin County Schools district — a district currently ranked 201 out of 246 in North Carolina with a 1-star rating. Although the school is categorized as an elementary school, it covers both elementary and middle grades, and a remarkable 99.44% of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a level of economic need that makes its academic results especially notable.

Chinquapin consistently outperforms its district in nearly every tested subject. In 2025-26, its average math proficiency was 50.4% and reading was 49.5%, compared with Duplin County averages of 42.6% and 38.9% respectively. Several grade levels even exceed the North Carolina state average: 6th grade math (67.9% vs 59.2% statewide), 6th grade reading (60.4% vs 54.8%), and 8th grade science (75.4% vs 68.6%). Other grades, however, lag well behind the state, including 5th grade math (35.9% vs 62.9%) and 5th grade reading (35.9% vs 55.3%). Overall, the school's combined math and reading proficiency sits below the state average but clearly above the district average, making it a stronger school within a struggling district.

Chinquapin's state ranking has slipped from the 45th percentile (2 stars) in 2024-25 to the 25th percentile (1 star) in 2025-26, even though its proficiency scores remained fairly flat at roughly 50% — reflecting statewide gains rather than a local collapse. Grade-level results are highly volatile, with 5th grade math dropping from 70.6% to 35.9% and 8th grade math rising from 34.9% to 57.4% in a single year, indicating that cohort differences and small group sizes heavily influence single-year outcomes. On a positive note, chronic absenteeism is just 15.4%, better than both the district (18.9%) and state (24.2%), and the student-teacher ratio of 15.3:1 is reasonable. The per-pupil spending figure of $14,420 comes from 2018-19 and should be treated cautiously. Overall, Chinquapin shows genuine academic promise in middle grades but needs sustained improvement in elementary grades to reverse its declining ranking.