Best Public Schools in Stanfield, NC

Stanfield, North Carolina, is a small city served by just one school, Stanfield Elementary, a K–5 school with 483 students in the Stanly County Schools district. Nearly every student (99.38%) qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, yet the school has steadily improved its statewide standing. It earned 3 stars from SchoolDigger and ranked 547th out of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools in the 2025–2026 school year—good for the 63rd percentile. That is up from the 50th percentile in 2023–2024 and the 57th percentile in 2024–2025. The district itself ranks 100th out of 246 districts in North Carolina, putting it in the 59th percentile.

In the most recent school year, Stanfield Elementary outperformed state averages in several subjects. Third grade math proficiency hit 85.5%, well above the district's 69.8% and the state's 66.4%. Fifth grade science reached 73.2%, also beating district and state averages, and third grade reading (60.5%) plus 5th grade math (63.4%) exceeded state proficiency rates. Not everything moved in the right direction, though: 4th grade math fell to 57.4% after a strong 75.0% the prior year, now below both district and state benchmarks. Reading also showed inconsistency, with 4th grade reading at 55.9% lagging state and district. The biggest bright spot is the jump in 3rd grade proficiency—math climbed 22.3 points and reading climbed 18.4 points year over year.

Despite serving an almost entirely low-income population, Stanfield Elementary keeps chronic absenteeism at 16.4%, notably lower than the district rate of 19.7% and the state rate of 24.2%. A favorable student–teacher ratio of 13.6:1 likely supports the individual attention that drives these gains. Because Stanfield has no middle or high schools within city limits, students transfer to other schools in the Stanly County Schools district after 5th grade. The overall picture is positive: Stanfield Elementary is a high-poverty school on an upward trajectory, with strong math and science results, low absenteeism, and manageable class sizes. Parents should watch 4th grade math and grade-level reading consistency in the coming years, but the recent trend is encouraging.