Montclaire Elementary

Montclaire Elementary is a PK–5 traditional public school in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools enrolling about 512 students in one of the most economically stressed areas of Charlotte, where 99.4% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Academically, the school remains below state and district proficiency averages on every End-of-Grade test, but it is not a static picture—Montclaire has shown one of the most dramatic improvement trajectories among its local peers. Its statewide rank climbed from the 4th–8th percentile range in 2021–2023 to the 28th percentile in 2025–2026. In a neighborhood where some of North Carolina’s highest-performing schools, like Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy (ranked #1 in the state), Selwyn Elementary, and Collinswood Language Academy, sit within two miles, Montclaire is a story of schools shaped by vastly different student populations rather than a tale of top-tier performance.

The most encouraging news for parents is the breadth and consistency of Montclaire’s recent academic growth. Between 2022–2023 and 2025–2026, every tested grade improved in both math and reading. Third-grade math proficiency jumped from 37.7% to 65.3%, and third-grade reading rose from 11.7% to 40.0%. Fifth-grade science also improved markedly, from 41.0% to 57.5%. No neighboring school with similar poverty levels—including Nations Ford Elementary, Pinewood Elementary, Starmount Academy of Excellence, and Huntingtowne Farms Elementary—showed comparable movement; most remain in the 1st–16th percentile statewide, while Montclaire has climbed to the 28th. Reading remains the largest gap, especially in the primary grades, where Montclaire trails the district by roughly 18 points compared to only a 5-point gap in third-grade math.

Montclaire also stands out for its results with historically underserved student groups. For 2025–2026, African American students ranked in the 90th percentile statewide compared to similar student populations at other North Carolina schools, and English Language Learner students ranked in the 72nd percentile—both earning a 4-star subgroup rating. That is a substantial improvement from prior years and points to specific practices working well for those populations. The school also made major strides on attendance, cutting chronic absenteeism from 44.6% in 2021–2022 to 19.8% in 2024–2025—now better than both the district (26.8%) and state (24.2%) averages, and far lower than high-poverty neighbors like Movement School Southwest (36.0%) and Pinewood (32.9%). With a low student-teacher ratio of 13.4 and per-pupil spending above most nearby schools, Montclaire is not yet where it needs to be in absolute terms, but the combination of improving attendance, rising subgroup outcomes, and broad academic gains suggests a school on a sustainable upward path.