Summary:
Zip code 28570, covering the Newport, NC area, is home to two public middle schools serving grades 6–8: Broad Creek Middle and Newport Middle, both part of Carteret County Public Schools, a district ranked 31st out of 246 districts in North Carolina. The two have very different profiles: Broad Creek Middle is a large, high-performing school with 722 students, while Newport Middle is smaller (346 students) and serves a much higher-need population.
Broad Creek Middle is the clear academic standout. It ranks 59th out of 778 North Carolina middle schools (92nd percentile, 5 stars) and posts average EOG proficiency around 80.5%, far exceeding district (71.7%) and state (57.7%) averages. Its strongest results are in 7th Grade Math at 94.2% and 8th Grade Science at 81.6%, and even its lowest score—71.4% in 6th Grade Reading—tops the district average in every subject tested. Newport Middle also earns a strong 4-star rating at 202nd out of 778 schools (74th percentile), and it is improving rapidly. Average proficiency jumped from 52.0% to 66.2% in one year, with gains in every subject and grade category. Newport now beats the state average in all reported areas, and its 8th Grade Science score (80.2%) nearly matches Broad Creek's.
These schools also reflect very different socioeconomic realities. At Newport Middle, 98.8% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, compared with 30.1% at Broad Creek Middle, and chronic absenteeism is 22.6% at Newport versus 11.6% at Broad Creek. Newport actually spends more per student ($11,529) and has smaller classes (13.7:1) than Broad Creek ($8,447, 16.7:1), yet Broad Creek's test scores remain substantially higher—a reminder that poverty and attendance strongly influence outcomes. Still, the achievement gap narrowed from 24.4 to 14.3 percentage points in a single year as Newport improved by about 14 points. For parents, Broad Creek offers elite, consistent academics, while Newport Middle is a high-need school showing genuine upward momentum.
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