Best Elementary Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina elementary schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOG test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 1505)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
370027000072	541	Claxton Elementary	Public, Magnet	K-5	241 Merrimon Avenue	Asheville	28801	Buncombe County	Asheville City Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(828) 350-6500	396	28	14.3	38.4%	257 (64.9%)	77 (19.4%)	26 (6.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	35 (8.8%)	$11,974			$943			$11,031	62.2	60.7	565	24
370472002223	542	Penny Road Elementary	Public	K-5	10900 Penny Rd	Cary	27518	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 387-2136	495	31	15.9	36.4%	281 (56.8%)	74 (14.9%)	100 (20.2%)	20 (4.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (3.6%)	$9,556			$424			$9,132	62	68.1	441	101
370472002033	543	Hilburn Drive Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	7100 Hilburn Drive	Raleigh	27613	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 571-6800	628	49	12.8	30.4%	308 (49.0%)	134 (21.3%)	94 (15.0%)	45 (7.2%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (7.2%)	$9,833			$684			$9,148	62	64.8	502	41
370126002218	544	Southwest Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	2320 Cook Road	Durham	27713	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 560-3972	663	51	13	53.5%	182 (27.5%)	252 (38.0%)	152 (22.9%)	21 (3.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (8.3%)	$11,711			$1,168			$10,542	62	54.1	691	147
370408001646	545	Mt. Vernon-Ruth Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	2785 Hudlow Road	Forest City	28043	Rutherford County	Rutherford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 287-4792	235	19	12.4	98.7%	192 (81.7%)	8 (3.4%)	18 (7.7%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (6.8%)	$11,338			$1,542			$9,796	61.9	54.9	675	130
370043003449	546	Johnston Charter Academy	Public, Charter	K-8	40 Scholar Drive	Clayton	27520	Johnston County	Johnston Charter Academy	Yes	No	No	Yes	(919) 879-8190	679	31	22.2	45.2%	331 (48.7%)	167 (24.6%)	108 (15.9%)	10 (1.5%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	60 (8.8%)								61.9	81.4	212	334
370231000987	547	Harmony Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	139 Harmony School Road	Harmony	28634	Iredell County	Iredell-Statesville Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 546-2643	359	26	13.8	69.9%	225 (62.7%)	18 (5.0%)	91 (25.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (7.0%)	$8,973			$1,140			$7,833	61.8	53.2	714	167
370472001869	548	Kingswood Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	200 E. Johnson Street	Cary	27513	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(919) 460-3481	399	36	11.2	47.1%	132 (33.1%)	80 (20.1%)	101 (25.3%)	64 (16.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (5.3%)	$11,660			$901			$10,759	61.7	41.9	895	347
370502002001	549	Lee Woodard Elementary	Public	K-5	103 Church St	Black Creek	27813	Wilson County	Wilson County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 399-7940	157	10	15.8	98.1%	74 (47.1%)	40 (25.5%)	32 (20.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (7.0%)	$11,686			$1,635			$10,051	61.6	58	619	70
370331002310	550	Ben D Quinn Elementary	Public	K-5	4275 M L King Jr Boulevard	New Bern	28562	Craven County	Craven County Board of Education	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 514-6420	367	27	13.4	54.2%	166 (45.2%)	88 (24.0%)	42 (11.4%)	32 (8.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	38 (10.4%)	$10,815			$1,386			$9,430	61.6	64.8	501	49

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 4, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.