South Harnett Elementary

South Harnett Elementary in Bunnlevel, NC, is a mid-sized school serving 476 students in grades 3–5 within the Harnett County Schools district, and it has just posted its strongest academic results in years. Historically, the school ranked in the bottom quarter of North Carolina elementary schools, but its most recent evaluation (2025–2026) shows it climbing to the 33rd percentile statewide and earning 2 stars. That is a significant jump from the prior year’s 23rd percentile and comes despite the fact that roughly 97% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, placing it among the highest-poverty schools in the region.

The improvement shows up across every grade level and subject. Third-grade math proficiency jumped from 34.2% to 51.6%, and third-grade reading rose from 29.0% to 45.8%. By fifth grade, South Harnett now meets or exceeds the district average in both reading and math, and its science proficiency of 65.4% dramatically outpaces comparable high-poverty neighbors like Boone Trail Elementary (42.6%) and Lillington-Shawtown Elementary (54.9%). Chronic absenteeism has also dropped sharply, from 39.6% in 2021–2022 to 23.5%, a rate now below both the district (26.9%) and the state (24.2%). With a student-teacher ratio of 14.2:1 and steady yearly gains, the school is clearly moving in the right direction. The nearby charter school Anderson Creek Academy ranks in the 94th percentile, which shows that outstanding results are possible within the same community and offers a compelling reference point for what can be achieved.

Despite the encouraging momentum, South Harnett still sits in the bottom third of the state overall. The English Learner subgroup ranks at the 6th percentile statewide — the school’s most urgent area of need — and the low-income subgroup ranks at the 17th percentile, which matters greatly given that nearly the entire student body qualifies for assistance. One of the most notable patterns, however, is how much students appear to grow between third and fifth grade. Because the school only begins serving students in third grade, fifth-grade scores offer a clearer look at the school’s own impact, and those results are now competitive with the district in core subjects. That consistent pattern across multiple cohorts suggests South Harnett is adding real value during the upper-elementary years.