Summary:
The Arts Based School in Winston-Salem, NC, is a single K–8 school serving 663 students, and because it operates as its own district, the Arts Based School district and school share the same data. This school has clear strengths in the middle grades, especially reading and science, with 8th-grade reading proficiency at 91.8% and 8th-grade science at 97.9% in 2025-2026 — both far exceeding state averages. Attendance is also a strong point: the chronic absenteeism rate is 13.4%, roughly half the statewide rate of 24.2%, and the student-to-teacher ratio is a favorable 13.5:1.
Looking at the most recent school year, proficiency gaps tell a mixed story. While 3rd-grade reading and 8th-grade math and science all outperform the state by wide margins, 4th-grade math is a notable weak spot at 41% proficiency versus the state's 61.4%, and 3rd-grade math has also trailed the state average two years running. The school's district-level ranking is strong — 85th percentile with 4 stars — but its statewide school percentile has slipped from the 71st to the 55th percentile over three years. Large year-to-year swings, such as 7th-grade math dropping from 88.5% to 63.3% or 4th-grade math falling from 63.9% to 41.0%, suggest different cohorts of students bring different strengths rather than a consistent schoolwide trend.
For parents, the key takeaway is that The Arts Based School excels once students reach grades 6–8, particularly in reading, where the school beat state averages by 17 to 36 percentage points in both reported years. This may reflect a strong literacy focus in its arts-based curriculum, or simply engaged students — attendance data supports that idea. However, early elementary math deserves attention, especially in grades 3 and 4, and the recent statewide ranking decline is worth monitoring. Since poverty data is missing, it's not possible to assess how demographics affect these results, but the school's strong middle-school performance and excellent attendance make it an appealing option for families seeking a K–8 environment.
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