Best Elementary Schools in North Carolina

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Find the best North Carolina elementary schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOG test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 3, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 1490)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
611	Creekside Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	431 Forlines Road	Winterville	28590	Pitt County	Pitt County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 353-5253	622	43	14.6	99.5%	114 (18.3%)	412 (66.2%)	45 (7.2%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	45 (7.2%)	$10,268			$1,329			$8,939	56.9	49.9	749	138		370001202789
612	Speas Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	2000 W Polo Road	Winston Salem	27106	Forsyth County	Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools	No	Yes	No	Yes	(336) 703-4135	793	52	15.3	99.6%	198 (25.0%)	258 (32.5%)	282 (35.6%)	5 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	49 (6.2%)	$9,845			$1,244			$8,601	56.9	60.6	574	38		370150000642
613	Union Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1440 Union Church Road	Shelby	28150	Cleveland County	Cleveland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 476-8250	413	30	13.6	99.3%	248 (60.0%)	95 (23.0%)	27 (6.5%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	40 (9.7%)	$10,135			$1,538			$8,597	56.9	52.7	704	91		370090002289
614	Moore Montessori Community School	Public, Charter	K-8	255 S. May Street	Southern Pines	28387	Moore County	Moore Montessori Community School	Yes	No	No	No	(910) 636-1325	259	17	15.5		158 (61.0%)	32 (12.4%)	33 (12.7%)	3 (1.2%)	4 (1.5%)	3 (1.2%)	26 (10.0%)								56.8	56.1	644	30		370043203460
615	Highland Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1915 Buffalo Lake Road	Sanford	27330	Harnett County	Harnett County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 499-2200	854	57	15	54.6%	382 (44.7%)	154 (18.0%)	238 (27.9%)	6 (0.7%)	2 (0.2%)	8 (0.9%)	64 (7.5%)	$8,595			$1,050			$7,546	56.7	40.9	913	298		370201002630
616	Mt. Vernon-Ruth Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	2785 Hudlow Road	Forest City	28043	Rutherford County	Rutherford County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 287-4792	231	13	17.6	98.7%	182 (78.8%)	8 (3.5%)	15 (6.5%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (10.8%)	$11,338			$1,542			$9,796	56.7	61.9	545	71		370408001646
617	Deep River Elementary	Public	K-5	4000 Deep River Rd	Sanford	27330	Lee County	Lee County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 776-2722	557	34	16.3	96.8%	159 (28.5%)	86 (15.4%)	267 (47.9%)	5 (0.9%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (6.8%)	$9,663			$1,381			$8,282	56.7	60.9	567	50		370256001075
618	LaFayette Elementary	Public	K-5	108 Lafayette School Rd	Fuquay Varina	27526	Harnett County	Harnett County Schools	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(919) 552-4353	179	10	17.3	32.4%	122 (68.2%)	26 (14.5%)	21 (11.7%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.5%)								56.7	51.6	720	102		370201003674
619	Sandy Grove Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	8452 North Old Wire Road	Lumber Bridge	28357	Hoke County	Hoke County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 875-6008	557	40	14.1	99.5%	137 (24.6%)	150 (26.9%)	137 (24.6%)	7 (1.3%)	60 (10.8%)	4 (0.7%)	62 (11.1%)	$9,694			$1,248			$8,446	56.6	47.6	789	170		370225002459
620	Catawba Heights Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	101 Ivey Street	Belmont	28012	Gaston County	Gaston County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(704) 836-9119	238	20	11.9	98.7%	120 (50.4%)	23 (9.7%)	68 (28.6%)	7 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (8.4%)	$10,876			$1,354			$9,522	56.6	52.7	703	83		370162000671

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 3, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.