Best Public Schools in Willow Spring, NC

Willow Spring, North Carolina, is home to two public elementary schools—Willow Springs Elementary and Dixon Road Elementary—which together serve about 1,470 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with Dixon Road also offering pre-K. These schools sit in different districts—Wake County Schools for Willow Springs and Johnston County Public Schools for Dixon Road—making for an interesting comparison of two nearby schools operating under different systems.

Both schools are strong choices. Willow Springs Elementary holds a 4-star rating and ranks in the 80th percentile statewide, while Dixon Road Elementary also earns 4 stars and sits just behind at the 78th percentile. Despite that close ranking, the schools serve very different populations: only about 31% of Willow Springs students receive free or reduced-price lunch, compared with 99.5% at Dixon Road. Dixon Road’s performance is especially notable given this high-poverty context—it posts similar or even slightly better overall proficiency rates than Willow Springs (71.5% vs. 71.1% on recent EOG tests) and has lower chronic absenteeism (10.7% vs. 13.5%). Dixon Road also outperforms its district dramatically in third and fourth grade math and reading, while Willow Springs has favorable class sizes at a 14:1 student-teacher ratio.

Recent trends are worth watching. Willow Springs has slipped from the 89th to the 80th statewide percentile, with math and science proficiency dropping in the latest year. Dixon Road, meanwhile, has improved across most subjects and now matches Willow Springs in overall performance. Reading lags math at both schools—especially at Dixon Road, where the gap is about 14 points—and fifth grade reading at Dixon Road falls below both district and state averages, suggesting a late-elementary challenge. Still, families in Willow Spring have access to two above-average, 4-star elementary schools, with Dixon Road standing out as a remarkable high-poverty school achieving strong academic results through strong attendance and consistent instruction.