Parkton Elementary

Parkton Elementary is a PK–8 school in rural Parkton, NC, serving 592 students in the Public Schools of Robeson County, where nearly every student (99.5%) qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Overall, the school ranks in the 7th percentile statewide (1,384 out of 1,492 schools) and has earned 0 stars, but that single summary hides very different pictures across grade levels.

Elementary grades are the school’s biggest challenge. Math proficiency is just 15.1% in 4th grade and 18.2% in 6th grade, far below other high-poverty schools nearby. Gallberry Farm Elementary, Stoney Point Elementary, and E. Melvin Honeycutt Elementary serve similar levels of poverty but post elementary proficiency rates in the 60s–80s. Within the same district, Rex-Rennert Elementary—about six miles away—achieves 54.7% proficiency in 4th grade math. Parkton also has the highest student-teacher ratio in the area at 20.4:1, while most neighboring schools are in the 14–17 range. Chronic absenteeism has improved to 29.7%, still above the state average of 24.2% but well below the district’s 42.1%.

There are genuine bright spots. The biggest is 8th grade: math proficiency is 58.3%, above the state average of 53.0%, and science is close to the state rate. Attendance has improved dramatically from 40.1% two years ago. In statewide subgroup comparisons, Parkton shows meaningful gains for African American students (30th percentile) and English Learner students (37th percentile), though most other student groups rank in the bottom 15th percentile. The clearest path forward is to figure out why students struggle so sharply in 4th and 6th grade math and then apply the instructional approaches that are already working in 7th and 8th grade across the rest of the school.