Summary
E J Hayes Elementary serves roughly 280 students in grades 3 through 5 in Williamston, NC, and is part of Martin County Schools, a small eastern North Carolina district where about 99% of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. With a student-teacher ratio of about 15 to 1, the school has long operated as a lower-middle performer in the state, but its most recent results reflect a dramatic drop: Hayes now ranks 1,436 out of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools, placing it in the bottom 4% statewide with a 0-star rating.
Academic proficiency at Hayes is well below both district and state averages across every tested subject. In the most recent EOG exams, roughly 34% of 3rd–5th graders scored proficient in math, 33% in reading, and 44% in 5th grade science, compared to district averages of 55%, 44%, and 57%, respectively. The most striking change came in 4th grade math, which fell from 57% proficiency in 2024–25 to just 30.1% in 2025–26 — a nearly 27-point collapse that did not appear elsewhere in the district. Third-grade reading is also a major concern, with only about one in four students proficient. Chronic absenteeism adds to the challenge: 33.4% of students were chronically absent in 2024–25, well above the state rate of 24.2%.
What makes these numbers especially notable is the contrast with nearby schools serving equally high-poverty populations. Williamston Primary, less than a mile away, ranks in the 96th percentile statewide, while Rodgers Elementary ranks at the 62nd percentile, Jamesville Elementary at the 49th, and South Creek Elementary at the 16th — all above Hayes's 4th percentile ranking. Hayes also reports the lowest per-pupil spending ($10,759) among its Martin County elementary peers, compared with $12,000 to $13,800 at other district schools. The recent decline has touched every student subgroup, and the presence of far stronger schools with similar economic circumstances suggests the issues at Hayes are school-level factors worth urgent attention, from instructional quality to attendance recovery and resource allocation.
Thank you for your feedback!