Summary
College Park Elementary is a K-5 school in Wilmington, NC, serving 470 students within New Hanover County Schools, where over 99% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school's academic performance has fallen to near the bottom of North Carolina's elementary schools, placing in the 4th percentile statewide and ranking 1,437th out of 1,492 schools.
Proficiency rates in reading, math, and science run roughly 20 to 40 percentage points below district averages in every tested grade. Reading is especially concerning: only about one in four to one in three students is proficient, with 3rd grade at 26.6%, 4th grade at 32.0%, and 5th grade at 25.4%. This challenge is not isolated to one group of students—nearly every subgroup, including female, male, African American, Hispanic, White, English learner, special education, and even gifted students, ranks in the bottom 14% statewide. Science has also declined steadily, from 57.4% proficiency in 2022-2023 to 40.8% in the most recent school year.
The contrast with nearby schools makes the situation particularly striking. While College Park sits in the 4th percentile, Dr. Hubert Eaton Senior Elementary ranks in the 93rd percentile, and Winter Park Model Elementary and John J. Blair Elementary serve similarly high-poverty populations yet score 15 to 30 points higher in most subjects. Chronic absenteeism is a likely factor: at 31.1%, College Park's rate is roughly double that of Blair (15.8%) and Winter Park (19.7%). Notably, College Park spends more per student ($17,443) than any nearby elementary school, yet this investment has not translated into stronger outcomes. Parents considering this school should ask about attendance support and reading intervention efforts.
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