Summary:
Zip code 23704 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is served by one high school, I.C. Norcom High, which enrolls students in grades 9–12 and operates within the Portsmouth City Public Schools district.
I.C. Norcom High is the only high school in this zip code, so all local attention falls on this single school. The school has been improving its state ranking steadily, moving from the 12th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 35th percentile in 2025–2026. That upward trend is especially notable because the district as a whole, Portsmouth City Public Schools, ranks in the bottom 13% of Virginia districts. One of the school's clear strengths is social studies: students consistently outperform state averages in World History I, sometimes by 20 to 40 percentage points. For example, 10th graders hit 90% proficiency in 2024–2025 versus the state's 48.86%, and 12th graders reached 100% in 2025–2026. Math results are more mixed but show promise, with 9th grade Geometry jumping from 70.97% to 91.43% proficiency in one year, and 10th grade Algebra I beating the state average in both recent years.
The biggest challenges at I.C. Norcom are literacy and student engagement. English Reading and Writing proficiency lag district and state averages, with 11th grade Writing at 60.65% versus 79.89% statewide and 12th grade Writing at just 26.92% in 2024–2025. Chronic absenteeism is a red flag at 25.5% compared to the state's 14.8%, and the dropout rate of 10.3% is more than double Virginia's 5.0%. These factors help explain why the graduation rate (85.2%) falls below the state average (92.3%). On a positive note, the school has a favorable 13.4:1 student-teacher ratio and spends about $10,960 per student, with essentially 100% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. That high-poverty profile makes the school's social studies success particularly impressive, but it also highlights how much room there is for improvement in literacy, attendance, and dropout prevention to help all students succeed.
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