Trinity Elementary School

Trinity Elementary School is a K–5 school in Trinity, NC, serving 423 students as part of the Randolph County School System, a district that ranks in the lower-middle range statewide. In the most recent 2025–2026 reporting year, Trinity ranked 1,102nd of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools (26th percentile, 1-star rating) — a substantial decline from its 2018–2019 position of 408th (72nd percentile, 4 stars). The school serves an almost entirely economically disadvantaged population, with 99.29% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch.

Academically, Trinity’s proficiency rates are below district and state averages in most subjects. Math proficiency drops sharply by grade: 3rd grade math is 57.9% (close to the district’s 62.1%), but 5th grade math falls to 40.3% — roughly 18 points behind the district and 22 points behind the state. Reading tells a more mixed story: 3rd grade reading (54.7%) actually exceeds the district average (49.4%) and nearly matches the state, but by 5th grade reading drops to 40.3%, about 15 points below the state. The most striking comparison comes from nearby same-district schools: Hopewell Elementary School and John R Lawrence Elementary School serve nearly identical demographics (roughly 99% free/reduced lunch) yet post much higher proficiency — Hopewell reaches 80.2% in 4th grade math and 78.8% in 5th grade math, while John R Lawrence posts 67.9% in 5th grade math. Trinity also trails Trindale Elementary School in most math and reading categories, though it leads Archdale Elementary School in several reading measures.

There are genuine bright spots. Chronic absenteeism has fallen from 28.2% (2022–2023) to 17.8% (2024–2025), now below both the district (22.5%) and state (24.2%) averages. Trinity’s special education students rank in the 64th percentile statewide relative to other schools’ special education populations — far above the school’s overall 26th-percentile rating — and its low-SES subgroup has improved from the 15th to the 41st percentile in two years. However, most other subgroups remain below the statewide median for their group, including White students (11th percentile) and gifted/talented students (18th percentile). Funding and class sizes are not unusual — per-pupil spending is $10,246 and the student-teacher ratio is 14.5, nearly identical to Hopewell’s. Given that nearby schools achieve far stronger results with the same poverty levels, Trinity’s current position points to real opportunity for improvement rather than an inevitable outcome of demographics.