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What do you wish you knew before starting at Northern High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,281
High
DISTRICT 890 · STATE 761
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 370126000545
Northern High
4622 N Roxboro Street, Durham, NC 27704 · (919) 560-3956 · Durham County
GRADES 09–12HIGH11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,281 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 17% of North Carolina public high schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded North Carolina public high schools
Student : Teacher
18.3:1
70 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.6:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
1,278 students
DISTRICT 98% · 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, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 393 | 31% |
| Grade 10 | 352 | 27% |
| Grade 11 | 268 | 21% |
| Grade 12 | 268 | 21% |
Student demographics
66%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 70% · STATE 71% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). 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
38.3%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
21.2%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 38 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 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
30.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.4%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-18.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 48% 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 →
Schools most like Northern High
Northern High's state test result (30.3% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern High this school | 1,281 | 99.8% | 30.3% |
| Hunter Huss High Gastonia | 1,165 | 99.7% | 24.5% |
| Southern Wayne High Dudley | 1,007 | 97.9% | 34.8% |
| Salisbury High Salisbury | 930 | 99.7% | 26.4% |
| Graham High Graham | 828 | 99.6% | 25.6% |
| Lexington Senior High School Lexington | 889 | 98.3% | 40.3% |
Matched among North Carolina high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Northern High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In North Carolina | In Durham County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 30.3% | #396 of 468 | #8 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 21.2% | #366 of 464 | #7 of 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 38.3% | #386 of 448 | #8 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,281 | #122 of 598 | #6 of 15 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.3:1 | #222 of 473 | #8 of 12 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.1% | #155 of 474 | #5 of 12 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.8% | #37 of 527 | #5 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.6% | #68 of 277 | N/A |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,281
-68 (-5%) vs 2020
-26% since 1990-91, when it was 1,737
Student : Teacher
18.3:1
was 14.7:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,281 | 70 | 18.3:1 | 100% (1,278) |
| 2023-24 | 1,334 | 81 | 16.5:1 | 64% (855) |
| 2022-23 | 1,308 | 86.2 | 15.2:1 | 64% (838) |
| 2020-21 | 1,349 | 92 | 14.7:1 | 41% (552) |
| 2017-18 | 1,536 | 90.7 | 16.9:1 | 53% (809) |
| 2015-16 | 1,496 | 87 | 17.2:1 | 56% (837) |
| 2010-11 | 1,484 | 89 | 16.7:1 | 48% (715) |
| 2000-01 | 1,477 | 119 | 12.4:1 | 8% (123) |
| 1990-91 | 1,737 | 131 | 13.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Northern High.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (1,536 to 1,281); teachers down 23% (90.7 to 70).
About Northern High
Northern High is a high-enrollment high school in Durham, North Carolina. It reported 1,281 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2024-25. By comparison, high schools in North Carolina enroll about 761 students on average.
Durham Public Schools is made up of 55 schools with 31,797 students in all.
The biggest share of students at Northern High, 40%, is Hispanic. Next come 39% Black, 15% White, and 3% multiracial. That compares with about 16% Hispanic among all Durham County residents. A diversity index of 66% means there is a 66% chance two randomly chosen students at Northern High are from different groups.
Northern High has 70 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 18.3:1. The school's 18.3:1 compares with an average of 19.6:1 for high schools in North Carolina. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 100%.
On the allk12 Grade, Northern High lands at C-, ahead of 17% of North Carolina public high schools.
Northern High trails its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results by 18.1 points (30.3% versus 48.4%), a bottom-10% result in North Carolina on BeatsExpectations.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Durham County show that median household income comes to about $82,316, roughly 55% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Durham County counts 74 public schools with about 46,109 students.
Holt Elementary is about 0.5 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Northern High is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Local comparison: Northern High ranks 7th of 7 nearby schools, at 30.3% versus a 54.7% average.
Locale: City: Large. In NCES terms, the school is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment figures show a drop of 68 students from 2020-21 to 2024-25. Its ratio of students to teachers was 14.7:1 in 2020-21, and 18.3:1 in 2024-25.
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Durham County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
332,353
Census ACS
Median income
$82,316
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
74
46,109 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Durham Public Schools
- C E Jordan HighHigh · 2,189 students
- Riverside HighHigh · 1,900 students
- Durham School of the ArtsHigh · 1,764 students
- Hillside HighHigh · 1,433 students
- Southern School of Energy and SustainabiHigh · 1,384 students
- Sherwood Githens MiddleMiddle · 878 students
Other schools in Durham
- NC Virtual AcademyCombined · 3,482 students
- North Carolina Cyber AcademyCombined · 2,461 students
- C E Jordan HighHigh · 2,189 students
- Riverside HighHigh · 1,900 students
- Durham School of the ArtsHigh · 1,764 students
- Hillside HighHigh · 1,433 students
Other Northern High schools
3 other US public schools in 4 states are named Northern High. Northern High is the 2nd largest of the 4.
- Northern HighOwings, MD · 1,478 students
- Northern High SchoolGRAND RAPIDS, MI · 1,088 students
- Northern High SchoolDillsburg, PA · 982 students
Nearby schools
- Holt Elementary0.5 mi · 587
- Excelsior Classical Academy1.0 mi · 1,032
- Voyager Academy1.2 mi · 1,360
- Sandy Ridge Elementary1.6 mi · 589
- City of Medicine Academy1.7 mi · 329
- Eno Valley Elementary1.7 mi · 440
Frequently asked questions
About Northern HighWhat is the total enrollment at Northern High?
Northern High enrolls approximately 1,281 students in grades 09-12.
Is Northern High an elementary, middle, or high school?
Northern High is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Northern High?
Approximately 18.3:1 students per teacher at Northern High.
How diverse is Northern High?
Northern High reports a student body of 15% White, 40% Hispanic, 39% Black, 2% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Northern High public or private?
Northern High is a public K-12 school, overseen by Durham Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.