Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 28560

In zip code 28560, located in the New Bern, North Carolina area, only one public middle school serves grades 6 through 8: Grover C Fields Middle, which belongs to the Craven County Board of Education, a district ranked 142nd out of 246 North Carolina districts with a 2-star overall rating. Despite that district-level rating, Grover C Fields has earned a 4-star state rating in each of the last three school years measured, operating at the 71st to 77th percentile among all North Carolina middle schools. The school enrolls 542 students, and approximately 46% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating it serves a substantial economically disadvantaged population while still posting strong academic results.

In mathematics, the school consistently outperforms district and state peers by wide margins. For example, in 2024–2025, 6th-grade math proficiency was 77.8% versus 57.2% statewide, and in 2025–2026, 7th-grade math reached 67.9% compared to 51.7% in the district and 56.2% across the state. Reading performance is also solid, with the school typically surpassing both district and state averages. However, 8th-grade science is a relative weakness: while science proficiency stayed near 66–67% in both recent years, the state average jumped to 68.6% in the most recent year, making science the only EOG subject where Grover C Fields fell below the state average.

Year-over-year data shows notable cohort-level shifts rather than a single schoolwide trend. From 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, 6th-grade math and reading scores dropped by roughly 10 points each, while 7th-grade math rose from 57.0 to 67.9 and 7th-grade reading increased from 59.5 to 67.3. The school also maintains a chronic absenteeism rate of 20.5%, above the district's 18.7% but below the state's 24.2%, with a student-teacher ratio of 15.9:1. Since no other middle school exists within zip code 28560 for direct comparison, Grover C Fields can only be measured against district and state benchmarks—and by that standard, it is a strong school that serves its student body effectively, even as its state ranking dipped modestly from the 77th to the 71st percentile over the measured period.