Northeast Elementary

Located in the rural community of Pinetown, NC, Northeast Elementary is a small PK-8 school serving 355 students in Beaufort County Schools, where 99% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school holds a 2-star rating and ranks in the 39th percentile of North Carolina elementary and middle schools — a meaningful improvement from the 28th percentile of 2021-22 and 2022-23, though performance still trails the district overall (61st percentile).

Academically, the results are uneven. In 2025-26, 5th-grade science (71.4%), 3rd-grade math (70.4%), 8th-grade math (58.3%), and 6th-grade reading (60.5%) all exceeded district and state averages; science and middle-grades math have been consistent strengths for several years. The clearest concerns are in reading: only 44.4% of 3rd graders and 32.1% of 7th graders were proficient, both well below their state averages, and 4th-grade math was also weak at 39.1%. On a more hopeful note, chronic absenteeism has fallen from 30.8% in 2022-23 to 24.6% in 2024-25, putting it below the district average.

School-by-school comparisons within the district are revealing. Bath Elementary, which serves nearly identical students just a few miles away, ranks among the strongest schools in North Carolina (89th-93rd percentile), while Northeast sits near the middle. The gap is enormous in early grades — 97.2% of Bath's 3rd graders passed math versus 70.4% at Northeast — but it nearly disappears by 8th grade, where math scores are essentially tied. That points to authentic strengths in Northeast's middle-grades math and science instruction. Northeast also outperforms John Small Elementary, another high-poverty school in the district, in nearly every shared grade and subject. And with $11,956 in per-student spending and a 13.8:1 student-teacher ratio — the most favorable among nearby schools — Northeast has solid resources to build on its recent gains.