Summary
Elizabeth Elementary is a PK–5 school in Shelby, NC, serving 649 students as part of Cleveland County Schools, where nearly all students (99.5%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. In the 2025-2026 SchoolDigger rankings, Elizabeth ranks 1,050th out of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools — the 30th percentile — placing it below the district overall, which sits in the 67th percentile statewide. The school has climbed from an even lower position in recent years (16th and 15th percentiles in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024), but remains one of the lowest-ranked elementary schools in its immediate cluster.
Academically, Elizabeth’s test scores trail the district in every subject and grade level, and trail the state in nearly every category. The biggest concern is early literacy: only 31.8% of 3rd graders are proficient in reading, compared with 55.6% statewide. The gap narrows by 4th grade, when math proficiency (62.5%) edges just above the state average, but widens again by 5th grade. Among ten nearby elementary schools in the district, only Township Three Elementary ranks lower. Schools serving similarly high-poverty populations perform much better: Jefferson Elementary, just 1.8 miles away, posts a 68.2% 3rd-grade reading proficiency rate, while Boiling Springs Elementary, Grover Elementary, West Elementary, and Bethware Elementary all rank between the 71st and 83rd percentiles. The challenges at Elizabeth are real, but clearly not determined by poverty alone.
Elizabeth does show meaningful bright spots. Gifted students rank in the 79th percentile statewide, and special education students jumped from the 9th to the 44th percentile in a single year. Chronic absenteeism, while still high at 27.1%, has fallen from 35.3% two years ago — and continuing that trend could be a powerful lever for improvement. One operational challenge is class size: at 17.7 students per teacher, Elizabeth’s ratio is much higher than the 10.8-to-15.2 range at nearby schools. Per-pupil spending of $9,413 (2018-2019) also sits on the lower end among its comparison schools.
Thank you for your feedback!