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)
370483001938	251	Hardin Park Elementary	Public	PK, KG-8	361 Jefferson Road	Boone	28607	Watauga County	Watauga County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 264-8481	851	78	10.8	38.1%	621 (73.0%)	23 (2.7%)	128 (15.0%)	38 (4.5%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (4.3%)	$11,487			$1,000			$10,486	79.3	78.7	259	8
370192000828	252	Jesse Wharton Elementary	Public	K-5	5813 Lake Brandt Road	Greensboro	27455	Guilford County	Guilford County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 545-3700	555	36	15.3	37.7%	283 (51.0%)	135 (24.3%)	53 (9.5%)	33 (5.9%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	49 (8.8%)	$9,913			$557			$9,357	79.3	74.7	332	80
370297003023	253	Barnette Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	13659 Beatties Ford Rd	Huntersville	28078	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	Yes	No	No	(980) 343-0372	750	40	18.7	25.5%	392 (52.3%)	166 (22.1%)	105 (14.0%)	37 (4.9%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	48 (6.4%)	$8,779			$466			$8,313	79.3	73.7	347	94
370472001843	254	Cary Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	400 Kildaire Farm Road	Cary	27511	Wake County	Wake County Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 460-3455	470	38	12.3	39.4%	270 (57.4%)	57 (12.1%)	110 (23.4%)	16 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	16 (3.4%)	$10,015			$629			$9,386	79.2	83.1	197	57
370114002760	255	Friendship Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1490 Friendship-Ledford Road	Winston Salem	27107	Forsyth County	Davidson County Schools	No	No	No	No	(336) 231-8744	481	32	15.2	38.7%	331 (68.8%)	41 (8.5%)	65 (13.5%)	24 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (4.2%)	$8,255			$444			$7,811	79.2	80.8	219	36
370090000338	256	Casar Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	436 Schoolhouse Road	Casar	28020	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 476-8255	278	19	14.5	98.9%	244 (87.8%)	9 (3.2%)	16 (5.8%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.9%)	$11,433			$1,395			$10,038	79.1	81.8	207	49
370126003633	257	Lyons Farm Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	906 Scott King Rd	Durham	27713	Durham County	Durham Public Schools	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(919) 560-3749	448	35	12.6	28.6%	231 (51.6%)	110 (24.6%)	40 (8.9%)	33 (7.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (7.6%)								79.1	78.8	256	1
370111000455	258	Kitty Hawk Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	16 Dogwood Trail	Kitty Hawk	27949	Dare County	Dare County Schools	No	No	No	No	(252) 261-2313	453	37	12.1	17.2%	401 (88.5%)	4 (0.9%)	27 (6.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (4.2%)	$11,885			$396			$11,489	78.9	80.5	230	28
370297002166	259	McAlpine Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	9100 Carswell Ln	Charlotte	28277	Mecklenburg County	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	No	No	No	No	(980) 343-3750	564	33	17.1	23.8%	273 (48.4%)	103 (18.3%)	113 (20.0%)	51 (9.0%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (3.9%)	$10,386			$944			$9,443	78.9	75.9	306	47
370237003113	260	Powhatan Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	3145 Vinson Rd	Clayton	27527	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(919) 553-3259	616	42	14.6	34.3%	356 (57.8%)	114 (18.5%)	95 (15.4%)	5 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (7.3%)	$9,061			$544			$8,517	78.9	79.4	248	12

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.