Summary
Lakewood Elementary is a PK–5 school in Durham, NC, serving 439 students; 99% of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, reflecting the high-poverty community around the school. It is part of the Durham Public Schools district and maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.2 to 1. For more than a decade, Lakewood ranked in the bottom 2 to 12 percent of North Carolina elementary schools. In the most recent 2025-2026 statewide ratings, however, the school jumped to the 30th percentile (1,045 of 1,492 schools), earned a 2-star rating, and posted one of the largest one-year improvements among nearby schools.
The clearest academic bright spot is 5th grade math, where 68.1% of students scored proficient—above the state average of 62.9% and above nearby schools like E.K. Powe (60.7%), George Watts (61.9%), W.G. Pearson (48.6%), and Hope Valley (44.2%). That result is virtually tied with Morehead Montessori (67.6%), a school ranked in the 79th percentile overall. Reading remains the challenge: only 42.0% of 5th graders were proficient, creating an unusually wide 26-point math-reading gap for that grade. Science improved to 50.7%, but it still trails both the district (62.5%) and state (67.7%) averages.
Improvement has been broad across student groups. English Learners moved from the 2nd to the 31st percentile statewide, while African American, Hispanic, and low-income students also posted substantial one-year gains. Still, significant gaps remain, and the school's identified gifted students rank at just the 10th percentile. Chronic absenteeism, at 34.3%, has improved and is much better than nearby high-poverty schools such as C.C. Spaulding (45.8%) and Fayetteville Street (52.9%), but it remains well above the state average of 24.2%. Lakewood is no longer a bottom-tier school, and its recent upward momentum is real—but reading, science, and continued equity progress will determine whether this becomes a lasting turnaround.
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