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)
370297001273	281	South Academy of International Languages	Public, Magnet	K-8	8300 Nations Ford Rd	Charlotte	28217	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(980) 343-5815	1,223	78	15.7	24.8%	430 (35.2%)	254 (20.8%)	372 (30.4%)	75 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	92 (7.5%)	$9,365			$441			$8,925	77.9	83.2	194	87
370472001895	282	Stough Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	4210 Edwards Mill Road	Raleigh	27612	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(919) 881-4950	507	42	12.2	31.8%	248 (48.9%)	97 (19.1%)	57 (11.2%)	41 (8.1%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	62 (12.2%)	$11,641			$528			$11,112	77.9	79.8	240	42
370204000579	283	Bethel Elementary	Public	K-5	4700 Old River Road	Canton	28716	Haywood County	Haywood County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 646-3448	526	36	14.5	99.2%	489 (93.0%)	1 (0.2%)	27 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (1.7%)	$9,186			$1,048			$8,138	77.9	83.7	188	95
370075000314	284	Pittsboro Elementary	Public	PK, KG-4	375 Pittsboro School Road	Pittsboro	27312	Chatham County	Chatham County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 542-3987	510	36	14	44.1%	272 (53.3%)	108 (21.2%)	87 (17.1%)	9 (1.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (6.5%)	$11,009			$698			$10,311	77.9	67.1	466	182
370483001941	285	Valle Crucis Elementary	Public	PK, KG-8	2998 Broadstone Road	Sugar Grove	28679	Watauga County	Watauga County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 963-4712	342	31	11.1	43.3%	284 (83.0%)	2 (0.6%)	49 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	6 (1.8%)	$10,351			$520			$9,831	77.8	75.7	309	24
370001100418	286	Long Hill Elementary	Public	2-5	6490 Ramsey Street	Fayetteville	28311	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 488-0012	442	32	13.8	99.3%	198 (44.8%)	102 (23.1%)	70 (15.8%)	16 (3.6%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.5%)	53 (12.0%)	$8,174			$751			$7,422	77.5	83.9	186	100
370030001760	287	Freedom Trail Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	6110 North US Hwy 19E	Elk Park	28622	Avery County	Avery County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 733-2932	207	17	12.2	65.2%	193 (93.2%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (3.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.4%)	$12,077			$1,306			$10,771	77.5	78.1	272	15
370072000297	288	Ephesus Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1495 Ephesus Church Rd	Chapel Hill	27517	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 929-8715	381	34	11.2	35.7%	190 (49.9%)	59 (15.5%)	52 (13.6%)	49 (12.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (8.1%)	$13,810			$557			$13,253	77.5	80.1	235	53
370035603329	289	Bradford Preparatory School	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	2502 Salome Church Rd	Charlotte	28262	Mecklenburg County	Bradford Preparatory School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(704) 549-0080	1,511	107	14		704 (46.6%)	431 (28.5%)	151 (10.0%)	59 (3.9%)	6 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	160 (10.6%)								77.4	76.2	296	7
370090002509	290	Springmore Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	616 McBrayer Homestead Road	Shelby	28152	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 476-8235	553	38	14.6	63.5%	405 (73.2%)	71 (12.8%)	42 (7.6%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (5.8%)	$9,568			$1,145			$8,422	77.4	75.7	308	18

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.