Grove Park Elementary School

Grove Park Elementary School is a large PK–5 school in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools serving 740 students in Charlotte, NC, where nearly all students come from low-income households. The school's overall academic performance is low and trending downward — it ranked at the 15th percentile statewide in 2025-2026, down from the 24th percentile the previous year, with all tested subjects falling below both district and state averages.

Several challenges stand out for families. Math proficiency starts as a relative strength in 3rd grade at 57.6% but falls to 41.8% by 4th grade and 38.5% by 5th grade, meaning the gap from the state average widens from about 9 points to 24 points. Fifth-grade science is also a major weakness, with 42.7% of students proficient versus 67.7% statewide. The biggest red flag is special education: students with IEPs ranked at the 2nd percentile statewide in 2025-2026, indicating the school's special education programming and supports are likely not meeting students' needs. Chronic absenteeism runs at 28%, above the state rate of 24.2%, though several nearby schools — including Devonshire Elementary at 41.2% — deal with even more severe attendance challenges.

There are genuine reasons for optimism. Third-grade reading jumped from 30.2% to 45.5% proficiency in a single year, and the school's gifted and talented students ranked at the 81st percentile statewide in 2025-2026, up from the 20th percentile the prior year. Most importantly, nearby Dorothy J Vaughan Academy — just 1.8 miles away and serving a nearly identical student population — ranks at the 66th percentile statewide, while Lawrence Orr Elementary improved from the 25th to 44th percentile in one year. Grove Park Elementary's own gifted results and the success of neighboring schools with similar demographics make clear that meaningful improvement is well within reach.