The top reported proficiency rate is 76% in Science. The lowest is 60% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ligon Middle
Ligon Middle is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight in downtown Raleigh on East Lenoir Street. The school has an enrollment that spans about evenly across the three grades, with just under a third of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is racially mixed, with white students making up the largest share, followed by Black, Hispanic, and Asian students, and a small number identifying as multiracial or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
On state end-of-grade tests administered in the most recent school year, Ligon's proficiency rates show a pattern typical of many middle schools: students performed strongest in science, where the majority met or exceeded proficiency. English language arts showed a solid majority proficient. Mathematics proficiency lagged behind the other two subjects, with just over half the student body reaching proficiency levels. The school administered tests to close to a thousand students across all three subjects, indicating full or near-full participation. Science testing involved a smaller cohort, reflecting either grade-level testing requirements or assessment structure changes; state testing data was not available for prior years, so a reader cannot assess whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability.
The housing market around the school reflects Raleigh's broader character. The zip code where Ligon sits spans a median home value in the mid-to-upper range for the region, with home prices having drifted slightly downward over the past year. Rents in the area are moderate and have similarly declined slightly. Mortgage payments and rent both sit above the national affordability benchmarks, placing homeownership and rental housing in this zone at a higher-than-typical cost relative to household income for the nation overall. The local unemployment rate is steady and modest.
Raleigh itself is North Carolina's capital and a dense, multiuse city. The downtown core where Ligon sits features a mix of historic residential blocks, office towers, retail, and high-rise apartments. The city is largely car-dependent outside downtown; walkability scores are low for the broader area but high in downtown blocks and a few historic neighborhoods like Five Points, Oakwood, and the Warehouse District. Major employers in the region span healthcare (WakeMed is the largest), technology (IBM, Cisco, Red Hat), higher education (NC State University), and professional services. The Research Triangle Park, a major regional tech hub, sits nearby. Raleigh is in rapid growth mode, with major mixed-use development projects underway downtown, in Midtown near North Hills, and around the planned Sports and Entertainment District.
Wake County Schools, the district housing Ligon, is a large district managing growth through ongoing student reassignments. In late 2024 and 2025, major reassignment waves moved students to fill new schools opening across the county. The district adopted a cellphone storage policy in 2025 affecting all grades, and has made science-of-reading instruction a foundational pedagogy for all elementary and early-childhood classrooms. Voters approved a large school construction bond in 2022 that funded five new schools and seven renovations, paid for via an added property tax. These shifts mean families in Ligon's attendance zone should anticipate the possibility of future reassignment as the district continues to open new schools and rebalance enrollment.
Data on special education enrollment and English learner enrollment at Ligon was not available. Information on discipline, course offerings, staffing, and attendance was also not provided, so a parent may want to look into these areas directly with the school if they are priorities for their family.
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