Beaverdam Elementary

Beaverdam Elementary is a PK–5 public school in northeast Raleigh, NC, serving 678 students as part of Wake County Schools. The school serves a very high-need population: nearly all students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Its overall state ranking places it in the 31st percentile (2 stars, 1,025 out of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools), but the trajectory is encouraging — Beaverdam has climbed from the 8th percentile in 2022–2023 to its current standing, a meaningful turnaround. Third-grade math proficiency, for example, nearly doubled from 33% to 62.5% over that period.

Chronic absenteeism is one of the biggest challenges, with 34.9% of students chronically absent — well above the Wake County average of 20.5% and higher than every nearby school in the comparison group. Academic proficiency in EOG subjects generally trails district averages by 10 to 20 points, though the school outperforms several similar high-poverty neighbors, including Wilburn Elementary (6th percentile) and Rogers Lane Elementary (12th percentile), and performs close to Forestville Road Elementary (38th) and Hodge Road Elementary (33rd).

The school shows notable strengths for specific student groups. African American students ranked in the 68th percentile statewide in 2025–2026, English Learners in the 52nd, and special education students in the 73rd — a major jump from the 13th percentile two years earlier. Low-income students also ranked above the school's overall percentile. The comparison with Doral Academy of North Carolina, a charter school just half a mile away, is stark — Doral ranks in the 89th percentile with 30.7% free/reduced lunch and 8.3% chronic absenteeism — but the comparison is largely demographic, as Doral serves a much lower-poverty population.