Summary:
In zip code 28442, there is exactly one elementary school serving grades PK–6: Hallsboro-Artesia Elementary, located in Hallsboro, NC, and part of Columbus County Schools. With 394 students and a staggering 98.22% free or reduced-price lunch rate, this is a very high-poverty school, yet it manages to outperform its district in most subjects and even beats the state in 5th-grade science.
Hallsboro-Artesia is the only school in the area, so there are no local comparisons to make—but against district and state benchmarks, its profile is mixed. In reading, the school is a clear district leader: every grade level from 3rd to 6th scored above the district average, with the largest gap in 5th grade (52.1% vs. 44.5%). In science, the 5th-grade proficiency rate of 70.8% surpasses both the district (54.6%) and the state (67.7%). Math tells a different story: while 3rd grade is competitive (61.4% vs. 58.7% district), proficiency erodes sharply by grade, and 6th-grade math sits at 35.3%—a full 23.9 points below the state average. Attending school is not a major problem here: chronic absenteeism is only 20.1%, lower than the district’s 29.3% and the state’s 24.2%, which is remarkable given the poverty level.
The school has hovered in the lower-middle tier of North Carolina elementary schools, earning a 2-star rating each of the last three years and ranking at the 32nd percentile most recently. Year-to-year swings, such as 5th-grade math jumping from 22.6% to 45.8%, are likely driven by small class cohorts rather than program changes. For parents, the main takeaway is that Hallsboro-Artesia provides solid reading instruction and exceptional science outcomes for a school with such high economic need, but upper-grade math requires real attention. The biggest opportunity is to reverse the slide in math proficiency before students move on to middle school, while preserving the strengths that already make this school competitive within Columbus County Schools.
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