Union Elementary

Summary:

Union Elementary is a public elementary school located in Vale, North Carolina, serving grades PK-5 with a student population of 323. The school is part of the Lincoln County Schools district, which is ranked 66 out of 242 districts in North Carolina and is rated 4 stars out of 5 by SchoolDigger.

Union Elementary consistently ranks among the top 200 elementary schools in North Carolina, with a ranking as high as 105 out of 1,434 schools in the 2017-2018 school year. The school's performance on state assessments is impressive, with students consistently outperforming the district and state averages in mathematics, reading, and science. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, 78.7% of 3rd graders, 75.9% of 4th graders, and 72.1% of 5th graders were proficient or better in mathematics, compared to 70.8% and 62.7% at the district and state levels, respectively. However, the school's ranking for its white and gifted/talented student populations is relatively lower compared to other subgroups, suggesting that the school may need to explore ways to better support the academic growth and achievement of these student populations.

When compared to other nearby schools, Union Elementary generally outperforms its peers in academic achievement, particularly in mathematics and science. For instance, in the 2023-2024 school year, Union Elementary's 5th-grade science proficiency rate of 84.1% was significantly higher than the district average of 76.8% and the state average of 66.2%. However, some nearby schools, such as Blackburn Elementary in the Catawba County Schools district, have demonstrated stronger performance in certain areas, such as reading and science, suggesting that Union Elementary could learn from the practices of these higher-performing schools.


Detail:

Public PK, KG-5

 4875 Reepsville Rd
       Vale, NC  28168-8634


(704) 276-1493

District: Lincoln County Schools

SchoolDigger Rank:
200th of 1,505 North Carolina Elementary Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures:  $10,166 Help


Students who attend Union Elementary usually attend:

Middle:    West Lincoln Middle
High:    West Lincoln High

Student/teacher ratio:  14.2 Help
Number of students:  323

Racial breakdown:

White:
89.5%
Two or more races:
5.9%
Hispanic:
4.3%
more

Free/discounted lunch recipients:  99.1% Help


 See top rated North Carolina elementary schools

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Performance Trends
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Compare Details Union Elementary ranks better than 86.7% of elementary schools in North Carolina. It also ranks 3rd among 12 ranked elementary schools in the Lincoln County Schools District. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2024 the calculated Average Standard Score was 83.21. (See more...)
Student Body
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Compare Details Racial makeup is: White (89.5%), two or more races (5.9%), Hispanic (4.3%). (See more...)
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Compare Details 99.1% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)
Teachers
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Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Union Elementary is 14.2. 6 elementary schools in the Lincoln County Schools District have better student/teacher ratios. (See more...)
Help
Compare Union Elementary employs 22.6 full-time teachers.
Finance
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Compare Details The average total spent per student at Union Elementary is $10,166, which is the 3rd highest among 12 elementary schools in the Lincoln County Schools District.
Schooldigger 2024 Rankings:

Union Elementary:

SchoolDigger ranks Union Elementary 200th of 1505 North Carolina public elementary schools. (See Union Elementary in the ranking list.)

Elementary School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Special Education students:
Low Socio Economic Status students:
Female students:
Gifted and Talented students:
Male students:
White students:


Lincoln County Schools:

SchoolDigger ranks Lincoln County Schools 66th of 242 North Carolina school districts. (See district ranking list.)


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Rank History for Union Elementary

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Rank History for all students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2006 75.00 251st 1276 80.3%
2007 80.99 158th 1293 87.8%
2008 79.19 198th 1324 85.0%
2009 69.94 396th 1354 70.8%
2010 73.00 332nd 1363 75.6%
2011 64.16 539th 1381 61.0%
2012 54.56 699th 1388 49.6%
2013 72.64 322nd 1403 77.0%
2014 82.13 202nd 1390 85.5%
2015 84.23 165th 1440 88.5%
2016 81.69 199th 1425 86.0%
2017 83.10 177th 1429 87.6%
2018 89.23 105th 1434 92.7%
2019 88.04 115th 1473 92.2%
2021 86.82 165th 1489 88.9%
2022 83.78 197th 1514 87.0%
2023 88.74 127th 1502 91.5%
2024 83.21 200th 1505 86.7%
See the entire list of North Carolina Elementary School Rankings!

Rank History for Special Education students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2024 84.96 57th 801 92.9%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 93.85 24th 1332 98.2%
2019 95.33 12th 1361 99.1%
2021 88.35 68th 1329 94.9%
2022 79.13 150th 1366 89.0%
2023 91.94 31st 1437 97.8%
2024 79.96 155th 1450 89.3%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 79.76 228th 1405 83.8%
2019 86.89 114th 1424 92.0%
2021 87.58 126th 1440 91.3%
2022 82.76 189th 1458 87.0%
2023 89.26 102nd 1459 93.0%
2024 82.84 183rd 1455 87.4%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Disabled students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 70.75 150th 897 83.3%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for Disabled Students!

Rank History for Gifted and Talented students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2022 53.17 322nd 500 35.6%
2024 57.37 354th 669 47.1%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for Gifted and Talented Students!

Rank History for Male students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 88.73 109th 1413 92.3%
2019 86.03 150th 1430 89.5%
2021 80.97 219th 1444 84.8%
2022 80.03 232nd 1464 84.2%
2023 84.87 156th 1461 89.3%
2024 78.64 256th 1464 82.5%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for White students at Union Elementary

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked Elementary Schools NC State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 77.82 222nd 1178 81.2%
2019 71.80 290th 1183 75.5%
2021 71.83 293rd 1172 75.0%
2022 63.91 393rd 1194 67.1%
2023 72.29 293rd 1183 75.2%
2024 62.10 422nd 1166 63.8%
See the entire list of Best North Carolina Elementary Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Union Elementary Test Scores
Tests: 
  
Grades: 
  
Years: 
  
Group by: 
District Scores:
State Scores:    
  
Subgroup: 





Data source: North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction

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Enrollment information for Union Elementary

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Year White African American Asian Hispanic American Indian Pacific Islander Two or More Races Not Specified Total
1988 427 15 1 13 0 n/a n/a 0 456
1989 451 15 3 9 0 n/a n/a 0 478
1990 403 15 2 10 0 n/a n/a 0 430
1991 377 14 0 13 0 n/a n/a 0 404
1992 364 16 0 15 0 n/a n/a 0 395
1993 408 17 0 18 0 n/a n/a 0 443
1994 419 15 1 13 1 n/a n/a 0 449
1995 503 12 3 16 3 n/a n/a 0 537
1996 503 12 3 16 3 n/a n/a 0 537
1997 513 11 3 21 3 n/a n/a 0 551
1998 540 16 6 21 3 n/a n/a 0 586
1999 556 13 5 22 2 n/a n/a 0 598
2000 563 15 7 27 1 n/a n/a 0 613
2001 594 16 5 23 2 n/a n/a 0 640
2002 571 20 4 37 2 n/a n/a 0 634
2003 571 20 4 37 2 n/a n/a 0 634
2004 549 22 2 53 3 n/a n/a 0 629
2005 546 23 5 53 1 n/a n/a 0 628
2006 554 16 5 59 1 n/a n/a 0 635
2007 305 7 0 14 1 n/a n/a 9 336
2008 294 8 0 15 0 n/a n/a 9 326
2009 283 17 0 17 0 n/a n/a 0 317
2010 299 16 1 11 0 n/a n/a 0 327
2011 281 10 0 16 0 0 1 0 308
2012 255 7 0 18 0 0 5 0 285
2013 254 9 0 10 0 0 3 0 276
2014 250 4 0 12 1 0 3 0 270
2015 232 4 0 15 0 1 8 0 260
2016 236 2 0 17 0 1 8 0 264
2017 244 4 0 11 0 0 10 0 269
2018 240 5 0 12 0 0 11 0 268
2019 225 3 0 13 0 0 10 0 251
2020 244 3 0 15 0 0 20 0 282
2021 261 3 0 14 0 0 14 0 292
2022 280 0 0 16 0 0 17 0 313
2023 284 1 1 16 0 0 21 0 323
2024 289 0 1 14 0 0 19 0 323

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Union Elementary

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 456 24.0 19.0 19.5
1989 478 24.0 19.9 26.2
1990 430 24.0 17.9 34.9
1991 404 22.0 18.3 37.1
1992 395 22.0 17.9 18.7
1993 443 21.0 21.1 22.8
1994 449 24.0 18.7 26.1
1995 537 28.0 19.2 23.6
1996 537 28.0 19.2 23.6
1997 551 31.0 17.8 24.5
1998 586 33.0 17.8 23.5
1999 598 28.0 21.4 33.1
2000 613 28.0 21.9 31.8
2001 640 29.0 22.1 29.7
2002 634 31.0 20.5 0
2003 634 31.0 20.5 0
2004 629 37.0 17.0 44.5
2005 628 42.0 15.0 46.8
2006 635 35.0 18.1 44.4
2007 336 n/a n/a 47.4
2008 326 23.3 14.0 50.2
2009 317 23.8 13.3 46.4
2010 327 23.9 13.6 60.9
2011 308 22.4 13.7 56.8
2012 285 19.4 14.6 53.7
2013 276 20.5 13.4 50
2014 270 19.5 13.8 48.9
2015 260 20.0 13.0 50.4
2016 264 19.0 13.8 54.2
2017 269 18.8 14.2 52
2018 268 18.0 14.8 54.1
2019 251 18.9 13.2 52.2
2020 282 19.1 14.7 53.9
2021 292 20.1 14.4 50.3
2022 313 22.3 14.0 31.6
2023 323 22.8 14.1 55.4
2024 323 22.6 14.2 99.1

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Union Elementary

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 456 24.0 19.0 19.5
1989 478 24.0 19.9 26.2
1990 430 24.0 17.9 34.9
1991 404 22.0 18.3 37.1
1992 395 22.0 17.9 18.7
1993 443 21.0 21.1 22.8
1994 449 24.0 18.7 26.1
1995 537 28.0 19.2 23.6
1996 537 28.0 19.2 23.6
1997 551 31.0 17.8 24.5
1998 586 33.0 17.8 23.5
1999 598 28.0 21.4 33.1
2000 613 28.0 21.9 31.8
2001 640 29.0 22.1 29.7
2002 634 31.0 20.5 0
2003 634 31.0 20.5 0
2004 629 37.0 17.0 44.5
2005 628 42.0 15.0 46.8
2006 635 35.0 18.1 44.4
2007 336 n/a n/a 47.4
2008 326 23.3 14.0 50.2
2009 317 23.8 13.3 46.4
2010 327 23.9 13.6 60.9
2011 308 22.4 13.7 56.8
2012 285 19.4 14.6 53.7
2013 276 20.5 13.4 50
2014 270 19.5 13.8 48.9
2015 260 20.0 13.0 50.4
2016 264 19.0 13.8 54.2
2017 269 18.8 14.2 52
2018 268 18.0 14.8 54.1
2019 251 18.9 13.2 52.2
2020 282 19.1 14.7 53.9
2021 292 20.1 14.4 50.3
2022 313 22.3 14.0 31.6
2023 323 22.8 14.1 55.4
2024 323 22.6 14.2 99.1

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.
Finances

Per Pupil Expenditures for Union Elementary

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YearExpenditures from Federal FundsExpenditures from State and Local FundsTotal Expenditures Per Pupil (All Funds)
2019 $909 (8.9%) $9,257 (91.1%) $10,166

Data source: North Carolina Department of Education
Pre and Post Pandemic Data

Impact of COVID-19 on Union Elementary

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on education in America. Learning shifted online overnight, attendance numbers dwindled, and enrollment decreased. SchoolDigger.com is making it easier for you to better assess how COVID-19 has impacted your school. Through the collection of pre-pandemic (2019) and current data, SchoolDigger.com is sharing test scores, enrollment numbers and school demographics from schools across the country – and we make it easy to see how impacted schools compare locally and statewide.

Rankings

Rank
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Rank
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Ranks 115th of 1473 Elementary schoolsRanks 127th of 1502 Elementary schools
 0.6%

Test Scores

% proficient
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
% proficient
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
3rd Grade Mathematics (Union Elementary)83.378
 5.3%
   3rd Grade Mathematics (Lincoln County Schools)7266.2
 5.8%
   3rd Grade Mathematics (North Carolina)64.361.1
 3.2%
3rd Grade Reading (Union Elementary)6964.4
 4.6%
   3rd Grade Reading (Lincoln County Schools)62.852.3
 10.5%
   3rd Grade Reading (North Carolina)56.848
 8.8%
4th Grade Mathematics (Union Elementary)76.976.7
 0.2%
   4th Grade Mathematics (Lincoln County Schools)66.462.7
 3.7%
   4th Grade Mathematics (North Carolina)57.355.3
 2%
4th Grade Reading (Union Elementary)69.276.7
 7.5%
   4th Grade Reading (Lincoln County Schools)6563.7
 1.3%
   4th Grade Reading (North Carolina)57.355.3
 2%
5th Grade Mathematics (Union Elementary)88.178.6
 9.5%
   5th Grade Mathematics (Lincoln County Schools)69.966.2
 3.7%
   5th Grade Mathematics (North Carolina)60.255.9
 4.3%
5th Grade Reading (Union Elementary)85.769.6
 16.1%
   5th Grade Reading (Lincoln County Schools)66.655.1
 11.5%
   5th Grade Reading (North Carolina)54.648
 6.6%
5th Grade Science (Union Elementary)92.991.1
 1.8%
   5th Grade Science (Lincoln County Schools)8173.9
 7.1%
   5th Grade Science (North Carolina)72.665.3
 7.3%

Student Body

Number of students
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Number of students
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Total Students251323
 28.7%
African American31
 66.7%
American Indian00
Asian01
Hispanic1316
 23.1%
Pacific Islander00
White225284
 26.2%
Two or More Races1021
 110%
% Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients52.2%55.4%
 3.2%


Schools Near Union Elementary









Frequently Asked Questions about Union Elementary

Students who attend Union Elementary usually go on to attend:

Middle : West Lincoln Middle
High : West Lincoln High

Students at Union Elementary are 89% White, 6% Two or more races, 4% Hispanic.

Union Elementary ranks 200th of 1505 North Carolina elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 4 stars out of 5.

In the 2023-24 school year, 323 students attended Union Elementary.


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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.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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