Best Public Schools in Chadbourn, NC

Chadbourn, North Carolina has one public school, Chadbourn Elementary, a PK–5 elementary school in Columbus County Schools, enrolling 233 students and serving an almost entirely low-income student body, with 98.71% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Because Chadbourn Elementary is the only school in the city, there are no local school-to-school comparisons to make, but it can be measured against its district and state. The school has clear strengths in math and science: 3rd-grade math proficiency is 75%, well above the district rate of 58.7% and the state rate of 66.4%, while 5th-grade math and science both sit at 64.3%, above the district and close to the state average. On the other hand, reading is a major weakness. Overall reading proficiency across 3rd–5th grades is only about 39.9%, compared to roughly 60.3% in math. The most alarming result is 4th-grade reading, where just 24.4% of students are proficient, more than 18 points below the district and about 33 points below the state. Chronic absenteeism is also very high at 43.0%, compared to 29.3% for the district and 24.2% for the state.

Academically, Chadbourn Elementary’s state ranking places it in the bottom third of North Carolina elementary schools, at the 32nd percentile with a 2-star rating in the most recent year. Grade-level results are noticeably uneven, suggesting both cohort differences and possible transition challenges. For example, 4th-grade math dropped from 79.3% proficient to 41.5% and 4th-grade reading fell from 58.6% to 24.4% between consecutive school years, while 5th-grade science jumped from 28.6% to 64.3%. These swings mean the school is not consistently low-performing; rather, it shows strong potential in math and science but needs urgent attention in reading, especially in 4th grade. With a 13:1 student-teacher ratio and about $12,202 spent per pupil, Chadbourn Elementary has workable resources, but its high absenteeism and reading gaps are the most important barriers to improving overall performance.