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)
370297001601	1181	Winding Springs Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	6601 Horace Mann Rd	Charlotte	28269	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(980) 343-5140	738	44	16.5	99.6%	17 (2.3%)	363 (49.2%)	333 (45.1%)	9 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	15 (2.0%)	$9,664			$1,055			$8,609	25.9	24.6	1178	3
370297003368	1182	Oakhurst STEAM Academy	Public, Magnet	K-5	4511 Monroe Rd	Charlotte	28205	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(980) 343-6482	567	35	16.1	98.6%	98 (17.3%)	224 (39.5%)	188 (33.2%)	21 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	34 (6.0%)	$9,789			$1,264			$8,524	25.8	41.7	899	283
370058000234	1183	Kings Creek Elementary	Public	PK, KG-8	3680 Wilkesboro Boulevard	Lenoir	28645	Caldwell County	Caldwell County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 754-6039	156	14	11.2	71.8%	141 (90.4%)	3 (1.9%)	5 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.5%)	$11,461			$1,809			$9,651	25.7	42.8	884	299
370048000183	1184	Hillcrest Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	201 Tennessee Street	Morganton	28655	Burke County	Burke County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 437-4258	284	21	13.6	94.4%	41 (14.4%)	22 (7.7%)	201 (70.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.1%)	16 (5.6%)	$11,197			$1,694			$9,503	25.7	22.2	1226	42
370048903640	1185	Appalachian State Univ Academy at Elkin	Public	2-4	195 Old Virginia Rd	Elkin	28621	Surry County	Appalachian State Univ Academy at Elkin	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(336) 701-1905	90	6	16.3	61.1%	65 (72.2%)	5 (5.6%)	19 (21.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)								25.5	8.8	1432	247
370243001041	1186	Fred L Wilson Elementary	Public, Magnet	K-5	1401 Pine Street	Kannapolis	28081	Cabarrus County	Kannapolis City Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(704) 932-8656	463	30	15.5	99.4%	129 (27.9%)	76 (16.4%)	225 (48.6%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (6.5%)	$10,056			$1,308			$8,748	25.3	27	1137	49
370472001912	1187	Zebulon Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	700 Proctor St	Zebulon	27597	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(919) 404-3680	561	47	12	76.1%	100 (17.8%)	239 (42.6%)	181 (32.3%)	3 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (6.8%)	$11,502			$1,536			$9,966	25.3	15.3	1330	143
370345003547	1188	Onslow Virtual School	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	200 Broadhurst Road	Jacksonville	28540	Onslow County	Onslow County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(910) 989-2013	429	33	12.9	53.8%	217 (50.6%)	95 (22.1%)	74 (17.2%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.5%)	38 (8.9%)								25.3			(n/a)
370393001569	1189	Deep Branch Elementary	Public	PK, KG-6	4045 Deep Branch Road	Lumberton	28360	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 738-2514	393	23	17.4	99.2%	9 (2.3%)	33 (8.4%)	30 (7.6%)	0 (0.0%)	310 (78.9%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.8%)	$10,490			$1,754			$8,735	25.2	12.1	1384	195
370444002315	1190	Swain County East Elementary	Public	K-5	4747 Ela Rd	Bryson City	28713	Swain County	Swain County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 488-0939	339	26	12.8	69.9%	162 (47.8%)	1 (0.3%)	15 (4.4%)	2 (0.6%)	104 (30.7%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (16.2%)	$12,145			$1,906			$10,238	25.2	35.6	996	194

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.