Webb A Murray Elementary

Webb A Murray Elementary is a PK–6 school in Hickory, NC, serving 380 students in the Catawba County Schools district. Despite being part of a district rated reasonably well statewide, Webb A Murray currently ranks in the 19th percentile (1,213th out of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools) with a 1-star rating — a sharp drop from the 36th percentile just a year earlier and from its 64th-percentile standing a decade ago. The school serves an almost entirely economically disadvantaged population, with 99.2% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch. That challenge is real, but it is also shared by nearly every school in the immediate area, many of which produce much stronger results.

Within just a few miles, Snow Creek, Clyde Campbell, Oakwood, North Newton, and Shuford all perform at the 76th to 80th percentile while serving similarly high-poverty populations. Proficiency gaps are consistent: 3rd grade reading is 31.8% at Webb A Murray versus 55.6% statewide, and 5th grade science is 53.1% versus 67.7% statewide. The one clear bright spot is 6th grade reading, at 54.2%, essentially matching the state average. Attendance tells a similar story: the school’s chronic absenteeism rate of 17.9% is better than the state average but worse than nearby higher-performing peers like North Newton at 10.1% and Shuford at 11.0%.

Webb A Murray also has a lower student-teacher ratio (13.9) and higher per-pupil spending ($10,328) than most neighboring schools, including the ones outperforming it — suggesting the challenge isn’t simply resources. Subgroup rankings show the decline is broad-based, affecting all grade levels and student groups, with English learners falling from the 62nd to the 10th percentile in one year. The school’s trajectory has been steeply downward, and the most recent year is its lowest on record. For parents, this points to opportunities in instructional effectiveness, intervention strategies, and attendance support rather than changes to the student population.