Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 28677

ZIP code 28677 in Statesville, North Carolina, contains five elementary-level schools — American Renaissance School (a K-8 public charter), Celeste Henkel Elementary, Third Creek Elementary, N B Mills Elementary, and Sharon Elementary — four of them traditional PK-5 schools in Iredell-Statesville Schools. All but American Renaissance School serve student bodies where roughly 99% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, so families here are looking at overwhelmingly high-poverty schools — yet results vary enormously.

Sharon Elementary is the clear standout: it ranks in the 67th percentile statewide (495 of 1,492, 3 stars) despite a 98.8% poverty rate, and it is the only school in the ZIP meeting or exceeding state averages in math, reading, and 5th-grade science — including 81.3% science proficiency versus a 67.7% state average. Chronic absenteeism is just 15.4%. At the other extreme, N B Mills Elementary ranks 1,482nd of 1,492 (bottom 1%), with 3rd-grade reading proficiency of only 19.4% and 27.2% chronic absenteeism. Third Creek Elementary also struggles badly at the 4th percentile, while Celeste Henkel Elementary sits in the middle at the 40th percentile with the group's lowest absenteeism (12.7%).

American Renaissance School is the most surprising case: it has the lowest poverty rate in the ZIP (51.3%) and a favorable 13.7:1 student-teacher ratio, yet it posts below-average proficiency in nearly every grade and the highest chronic absenteeism at 29.0%. Its 8th-grade math proficiency is only 16.7% versus a 53.0% state average. Across the ZIP, attendance aligns closely with achievement: the two highest-absenteeism schools are the two lowest performers, and the two lowest-absenteeism schools are the two highest performers. For parents, the lesson is clear: the overall 3-star rating of Iredell-Statesville Schools hides extreme differences between schools in 28677 — from Sharon Elementary's 67th-percentile results to N B Mills Elementary's bottom-1% outcomes — so evaluating individual schools matters far more than relying on district averages.