Easton Elementary School

Easton Elementary School is a PK–5 school in Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools serving 504 students, nearly all of whom (99.4%) come from economically disadvantaged homes. The school has ranked in the bottom 1–5% of North Carolina elementary schools for over a decade, with math proficiency around 31% and reading proficiency around 18% across grades 3–5—far below the district's 61% and 53% averages, respectively.

These outcomes are especially striking when compared to nearby schools facing similar poverty levels. Forest Park Elementary, Konnoak Elementary, Griffith Elementary, and Diggs-Latham Elementary all serve similarly disadvantaged populations yet rank in the 19th, 16th, 32nd, and 40th percentiles, respectively—dramatically higher than Easton's 2nd percentile. Even Cook Literacy Model School, a fellow low-performing school, edges out Easton in reading proficiency (21.9% vs. 18.2%), though Easton posts higher math scores and much higher 5th-grade science scores (50.7% vs. 22.2%). Chronic absenteeism is high at 33.5%, but it essentially matches the district average of 33.6%.

There are a few encouraging signs. Easton’s 5th-grade science proficiency (50.7%) is much closer to the district's 63.6% than its reading or math scores are, and English Learner and Special Education subgroups have shown meaningful recent improvement. Per-pupil spending is not unusually low at $11,518, and the student-teacher ratio is a favorable 11.4, indicating the school’s decade-long slump cannot simply be blamed on a lack of resources. Ultimately, however, reading proficiency remains critically low, and without a significant strategic shift, Easton is likely to remain among the lowest-performing elementary schools in the state.