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If you could change one rule at Kinston High, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
659
High
DISTRICT 646 · STATE 761
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LENOIR COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 370261000585
Kinston High
2601 N Queen St, Kinston, NC 28501 · (252) 527-8067 · Lenoir County
GRADES 09–12HIGH32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL659 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
41 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.3:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
653 students
DISTRICT 99% · STATE 82%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
NC EOG / EOC 2024-25 . % Grade Level Proficient (Level 3+)English Language Arts
35.9%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
14.0%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 36 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 14 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all North Carolina schools, those numbers are about 51 and 52.
Source: NC EOG / EOC. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of NC schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
21.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.6%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-27.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 49% typical for North Carolina schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
659
-55 (-8%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 15.9:1
% White
2%
was 3%
% Hispanic
5%
was 2%
% Black
87%
was 92%
% Asian
1%
was 1%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Kinston High
Kinston High is a four-year high school of moderately sized scale in Kinston, North Carolina, run under Lenoir County Public Schools, instructing 659 students in grades 9 through 12.
Kinston High is one of 17 schools operated by Lenoir County Public Schools, a district that educates 8,331 students overall.
In terms of who attends, Kinston High reports that nearly all students (87%) are Black. Beyond that, the school records 5% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 2% White. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 39%.
On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Kinston High has 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.1:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 19.6:1 average. About 99% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.
With demographic context factored in, Kinston High falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 48.6%; this one comes in at 21.5%, -27.1 points off the demographic line.
In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Lenoir County indicate median household earnings sit near $45,143, roughly 16% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 17%. Kinston High is one of 18 public schools in Lenoir County (combined enrollment of about 8,480 students).
The closest other public school is Northeast Elementary, roughly 1.3 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Kinston High. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Kinston High at 8th of 8; the average score across the group is 50.7%.
The school occupies a small-town site.
Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 8%: 714 students in 2018 compared to 659 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share edged down from 92% to 87%.
On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Lenoir County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
54,919
Census ACS
Median income
$45,143
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
16%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
17%
Below federal line
Schools in county
18
8,480 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lenoir County Public Schools
- North Lenoir HighHigh · 957 students
- Contentnea-Savannah SchoolElementary · 789 students
- South Lenoir HighHigh · 721 students
- Woodington MiddleMiddle · 584 students
- La Grange ElementaryElementary · 547 students
- Rochelle MiddleMiddle · 517 students
Other schools in Kinston
- Contentnea-Savannah SchoolElementary · 789 students
- Woodington MiddleMiddle · 584 students
- Rochelle MiddleMiddle · 517 students
- Northwest ElementaryElementary · 504 students
- Northeast ElementaryElementary · 465 students
- Banks ElementaryElementary · 436 students
Nearby schools
- Northeast Elementary1.3 mi · 465
- Northwest Elementary2.0 mi · 504
- Children's Village Academy2.0 mi · 149
- Rochelle Middle2.4 mi · 517
- Southeast Elementary2.6 mi · 326
- Contentnea-Savannah School3.4 mi · 789
Frequently asked questions
About Kinston HighWhat is the total enrollment at Kinston High?
Kinston High enrolls approximately 659 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Kinston High serve?
Kinston High serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Kinston High have?
Kinston High employs 41 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.1:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Kinston High?
At Kinston High, the student body is approximately 2% White, 5% Hispanic, 87% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Is Kinston High public or private?
Kinston High is a public K-12 school, overseen by Lenoir County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.