Dole Elementary

Dole Elementary is a pre-kindergarten through 5th grade school in Salisbury, North Carolina, serving 388 students in the Rowan-Salisbury Schools district. The school has spent more than a decade ranked among the very lowest-performing elementary schools in the state, and test scores remain near the absolute floor. Just 18.8% of 3rd graders and 17.1% of 4th graders are proficient in math, while 3rd grade reading proficiency sits at 18.8%. Nearly all students (over 99%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and one in three students is chronically absent. That attendance problem is real, but it doesn't tell the whole story — Hurley Elementary and Overton Elementary have even higher absenteeism rates, yet Dole's scores are just as low.

Comparisons with nearby high-poverty schools make the challenge clear. Rockwell Elementary, Morgan Elementary, and Southmont Elementary all serve student bodies that are roughly 99% economically disadvantaged, yet they rank in the 49th to 68th percentile statewide, with 3rd grade math proficiency rates around 80% in Rockwell's case. Even Churchland Elementary, just across the county line in Davidson County Schools, serves a similarly impoverished population and performs well above Dole. Notably, Dole spends more per student ($11,955) than many of these schools — Rockwell spends roughly $9,665 — which suggests the issue is not a lack of funding, but how resources and instruction are used.

There are bright spots to build on. Dole's 5th graders tend to outperform the school's 3rd graders in both reading and math, and in 2024–2025 special education students ranked in the 36th percentile statewide — far stronger than the school's overall ranking. Fifth-grade science also topped the district average in 2023–2024. These pockets of success show that Dole students can achieve at much higher levels when conditions are right. The path forward likely lies in figuring out what works in those classrooms and replicating it across every grade and subject.