Best Public Schools in Stovall, NC

Stovall, North Carolina is served by just one public school—Stovall-Shaw Elementary—a PK-5 elementary school within Granville County Schools that enrolls 336 students and serves an area where 99.11% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Because there is no middle or high school in Stovall, families should expect their children to transition to schools outside the city after 5th grade. The school’s statewide ranking has been inconsistent: it earned a 2-star rating (36th percentile) in 2024-25 in 2025-26 fell to a 1-star rating (24th percentile). Its student-to-teacher ratio is a comfortable 14.9:1, and per-student spending is $10,843. Despite the high-poverty context, chronic absenteeism is only 22.6%—far better than the district’s 40.9% and slightly better than the state’s 24.2%.

In 2024-25, the school posted standout math results, averaging 64.6% proficiency across grades 3-5, which topped both the district (54.0%) and the state (60.8%). Third-grade math was exceptional at 76.6% proficiency. However, math scores dropped sharply in 2025-26 across every tested grade—3rd grade fell 16.6 points to 60%, 4th grade fell to 51.1%, and 5th grade fell to 52.2%—putting the school below both district and state averages. Reading results are more mixed but generally below the state. In 2025-26, 3rd grade reading improved to 46% (beating the district’s 42.6%), while 4th grade slipped to 48.9% and 5th grade remained a major concern at only 34.8% proficiency, compared with a 55.3% state average. Science proficiency in 5th grade improved to 50% but still trails the state by about 18 points.

For parents, Stovall-Shaw Elementary offers a caring, stable environment with lower chronic absenteeism than its district and many strengths in early-grade math, especially in 2024-25. The biggest red flags are the recent math slump and persistently weak 5th-grade reading. Families moving to Stovall will want to monitor how the school addresses these academic dips, while acknowledging that the school serves an almost universally low-income student population—a context that makes its 2024-25 math performance especially impressive and its reading gaps all the more important to close.