Turrentine Middle, Burlington NC

Original Research by School Decision on Turrentine Middle

Turrentine Middle is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight in Burlington, North Carolina. It is part of the Alamance-Burlington Schools district, which operates across Alamance County.

The school serves a student body that is economically disadvantaged and racially diverse. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student composition is roughly evenly split between Black and Hispanic students, with smaller shares of white students and students of two or more races. The school has a total enrollment in the small-to-mid range for a middle school.

State testing data from the 2024-25 school year shows that proficiency in mathematics is notably low, with fewer than a third of tested students meeting proficiency. English language arts performance is somewhat higher, with roughly a third of students proficient, though still well below typical state benchmarks. Science proficiency, measured on a revised assessment that year, is the strongest of the three subjects at around two-fifths of students, though interpretation of this result is limited because the science assessment changed both its name and cut scores, making direct year-to-year comparison difficult.

These proficiency rates suggest that Turrentine, like many middle schools serving high-poverty populations, faces significant academic challenges. Students here are working with limited economic resources at home, and the school's low proficiency figures indicate that current instruction is not closing achievement gaps. A parent considering Turrentine should understand that the school's academic environment is one of struggle rather than strength. The data does not provide information about whether the school offers specialized programs, how attendance patterns look, or how discipline is managed, so a parent may want to look into those areas directly with the school.

Burlington itself is a mid-sized Piedmont city anchored by downtown civic life and anchored by Laboratory Corporation of America's headquarters and a major medical center. The housing market is moderately affordable. The city has been growing and ranks highly in economic vitality measures based on job creation, broadband access, and housing affordability. This context means families moving into Turrentine's attendance area are likely encountering a city with employment opportunity and new housing construction, though school performance is a separate question from the strength of the local economy.

The district has invested in facility improvements and security upgrades district-wide through recent bond funding and opened a new high school in 2023, so infrastructure is relatively current. For middle grades, however, the academic performance data shows work ahead.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grades 3-830%

School 30% · District 45% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grades 3-835%

School 35% · District 39% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Science

Grades 3-841%

School 41% · District 50% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolAlamance-Burlington Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income52%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income48%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income51%29 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income25%Higher-income50%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income34%Higher-income47%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income41%25 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income12%Higher-income43%31 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income21%Higher-income44%23 pp gap