Summary:
The Willow Oak Montessori district in Pittsboro, NC, has one school, Willow Oak Montessori, a K–8 program with 281 students and a 9.7 student-teacher ratio. The school has earned a consistent 3-star state rating, ranking in the 54th percentile in 2023–24 and 2024–25, then dropping slightly to the 51st percentile in 2025–26. Overall, this is a strong reading school: in 2025–26, reading proficiency was above the state average in every tested grade, with roughly 68% proficient compared to about 56% statewide. Science was also above average, but math lagged behind at about 51% proficiency versus roughly 60% statewide.
Some grade-level patterns stand out strongly. Eighth graders were exceptional, with 87.5% proficient in both reading and science, compared with state averages of 56.1% and 68.6%, and their math score also topped the state average. However, 4th grade math was the school’s most striking weakness, with only 32.1% proficient versus 61.4% statewide, and 5th grade science was below average at 57.6% versus 67.7%. These uneven results may reflect small cohorts as much as instruction, but 4th grade math also fell sharply from the prior year’s 52.9%, while 4th grade reading climbed to 71.4%, so the issue appears specific to math rather than overall learning.
The biggest area of concern is chronic absenteeism. More than one in three students—35.9%—were chronically absent in 2024–25, well above the state rate of 24.2%. That likely makes it harder for students to keep up with sequential skills like math. On a positive note, the low student-teacher ratio and consistently strong reading results suggest core instruction is solid at the school. Parents should know that year-to-year scores at a small school can fluctuate, and the combination of excellent 8th-grade reading and science, strong reading in the lower grades, and a large 4th-grade math gap points to math instruction in 4th and 5th grades as the top growth area.
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