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What's something Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,384
High
DISTRICT 890 · STATE 761
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 370126000550
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi
800 Clayton Road, Durham, NC 27703 · (919) 560-3968 · Durham County
GRADES 09–12HIGH11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,384 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of North Carolina public high schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
21.2:1
65 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.6:1 · STATE 19.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
1,381 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 | 458 | 33% |
| Grade 10 | 356 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 313 | 23% |
| Grade 12 | 257 | 19% |
Student demographics
56%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
35.2%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
17.2%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 35 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 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
23.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.4%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-25.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% 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 Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi's state test result (23.1% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi this school | 1,384 | 99.8% | 23.1% |
| North Forsyth Magnet High Winston Salem | 1,084 | 99.7% | 23.1% |
| Parkland High Winston Salem | 1,569 | 99.8% | 23.7% |
| Olympic High School Charlotte | 1,483 | 99.8% | 37.2% |
| Northern High Durham | 1,281 | 99.8% | 30.3% |
| Graham High Graham | 828 | 99.6% | 25.6% |
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 Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In North Carolina | In Durham County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.1% | #443 of 468 | #10 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.2% | #409 of 464 | #10 of 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 35.2% | #409 of 448 | #9 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,384 | #107 of 598 | #5 of 15 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.2:1 | #342 of 473 | #11 of 12 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.2% | #300 of 474 | #10 of 12 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.8% | #29 of 527 | #4 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.1% | #238 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
1,384
+153 (+12%) vs 2020
+24% since 1990-91, when it was 1,112
Student : Teacher
21.2:1
was 14.8:1
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 | 1,384 | 65.3 | 21.2:1 | 100% (1,381) |
| 2023-24 | 1,352 | 75.1 | 18.0:1 | 100% (1,349) |
| 2022-23 | 1,283 | 78.6 | 16.3:1 | 100% (1,280) |
| 2020-21 | 1,231 | 83 | 14.8:1 | 100% (1,228) |
| 2017-18 | 1,429 | 86 | 16.6:1 | 59% (840) |
| 2015-16 | 1,389 | 89 | 15.6:1 | 68% (938) |
| 2010-11 | 1,047 | 78 | 13.4:1 | 67% (704) |
| 2000-01 | 1,220 | 95 | 12.8:1 | 15% (177) |
| 1990-91 | 1,112 | 81 | 13.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (1,429 to 1,384); teachers down 24% (86 to 65.3).
About Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi is a large high school in Durham, North Carolina, administered by Durham Public Schools. It serves 1,384 students in grades 9 through 12. For comparison, high schools in North Carolina average about 761 students.
Durham Public Schools enrolls 31,797 students in 55 schools, including Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi.
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi's enrollment has no majority group, and Hispanic students are the largest at 48%. The school is also 45% Black, 3% multiracial, and 2% White. The Hispanic share of the county population is lower, at 16%. The chance that two students picked at random at Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 56%.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 21.2:1, with 65.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. Among high schools in North Carolina, the typical ratio is 19.6:1. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi is 100%.
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi is graded F by allk12, scoring above 4% of North Carolina public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi scores 25.2 points below its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests: 23.1% actual versus 48.4% predicted. That puts it in the bottom 10% of North Carolina schools on BeatsExpectations.
Among Durham County residents, median household income is about $82,316, about 55% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 8% of residents are in poverty. Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi is one of 74 public schools in Durham County, which together enroll about 46,109 students.
Merrick-Moore Elementary is the closest public school, about 1.3 miles away in a straight line. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. By average proficiency, Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi is 4th among 5 schools close by.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Large, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
The student count in 2024-25 was 1,384, 12% above the 1,231 of 2020-21. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio rose from 14.8:1 to 21.2:1.
Questions about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
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
- Northern HighHigh · 1,281 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
Nearby schools
- Merrick-Moore Elementary1.3 mi · 445
- Reaching All Minds Academy1.5 mi · 391
- Oak Grove Elementary1.5 mi · 395
- Glenn Elementary2.1 mi · 455
- Y E Smith Elementary2.6 mi · 358
- Durham's Performance Learning Center2.9 mi · 122
Frequently asked questions
About Southern School of Energy and SustainabiHow many students attend Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi?
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi enrolls approximately 1,384 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi serve?
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi serves grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi have?
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi employs 65 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 21.2:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi?
At Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi, the student body is approximately 2% White, 48% Hispanic, 45% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi in?
Southern School of Energy and Sustainabi is part of Durham Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.