Summary:
The city of Cleveland, North Carolina is home to two elementary schools, West Rowan Elementary and Cool Spring Elementary, which serve students in the Rowan-Salisbury Schools and Iredell-Statesville Schools districts. While both schools have high rates of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, Cool Spring Elementary stands out as the higher-performing school, ranking 140 out of 1,505 North Carolina elementary schools and earning a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger.
Cool Spring Elementary significantly outperforms West Rowan Elementary and the district/state averages in all subject areas and grade levels. For example, in 3rd grade math, 87.7% of Cool Spring students were proficient or better, compared to 64.2% for the district and 62.7% for the state. Additionally, Cool Spring spends more per student ($9,664) compared to West Rowan ($7,522), despite having a similar student-teacher ratio. The racial makeup of the two schools also differs, with Cool Spring having a higher percentage of White students and lower percentages of Hispanic and multiracial students compared to West Rowan.
In contrast, West Rowan Elementary appears to be a lower-performing school, ranking 1,117 out of 1,505 North Carolina elementary schools and earning only a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger. The significant performance gap between the two schools is noteworthy, as it suggests that factors beyond just funding and student composition, such as school leadership, teacher quality, and instructional practices, may be contributing to the difference in academic outcomes.
Thank you for your feedback!