Best Elementary Schools in North Carolina

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

Find the best North Carolina elementary schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish North Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the EOG test scores by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 1505)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
370072003275	961	Northside Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	350 Caldwell St	Chapel Hill	27516	Orange County	Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 918-2220	390	35	11	55.9%	175 (44.9%)	99 (25.4%)	48 (12.3%)	44 (11.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (5.9%)	$14,816			$528			$14,288	38.6	44.9	847	114
370331002211	962	James W Smith Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	150 Koonce Town Road	Cove City	28523	Craven County	Craven County Board of Education	No	No	No	Yes	(252) 514-6466	330	26	12.7	99.1%	126 (38.2%)	118 (35.8%)	55 (16.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (8.5%)	$12,531			$1,671			$10,860	38.5	49.5	780	182
370096000367	963	Hallsboro-Artesia Elementary	Public	PK, KG-6	1337 Giles Byrd Road	Hallsboro	28442	Columbus County	Columbus County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 646-3510	376	23	16	99.2%	86 (22.9%)	86 (22.9%)	66 (17.6%)	1 (0.3%)	64 (17.0%)	0 (0.0%)	73 (19.4%)	$10,419			$1,866			$8,554	38.4	39.2	949	14
370004302358	964	The Exploris School	Public, Charter	K-8	401 Hillsborough St.	Raleigh	27603	Wake County	The Exploris School	Yes	No	No	Yes	(919) 715-3690	450	40	11.1		298 (66.2%)	61 (13.6%)	32 (7.1%)	6 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	51 (11.3%)								38.3	57.9	620	344
370001100440	965	Sunnyside Elementary	Public	K-5	3876 Sunnyside School Road	Fayetteville	28312	Cumberland County	Cumberland County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 483-4319	343	24	14.2	99.1%	48 (14.0%)	222 (64.7%)	34 (9.9%)	1 (0.3%)	11 (3.2%)	1 (0.3%)	26 (7.6%)	$10,621			$1,658			$8,964	38.2	31.6	1066	101
370047103555	966	Summit Creek Academy	Public, Charter	K-7	2126 Scott Rd	Browns Summit	27214	Guilford County	Summit Creek Academy	Yes	No	No	No	(336) 355-4447	706	33	21.6	96.9%	114 (16.1%)	381 (54.0%)	81 (11.5%)	22 (3.1%)	6 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	101 (14.3%)								38.2	28.7	1109	143
370399002680	967	Huntsville Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	2020 Sardis Church Road	Madison	27025	Rockingham County	Rockingham County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(336) 427-3266	385	27	14.2	99.2%	265 (68.8%)	35 (9.1%)	60 (15.6%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (6.2%)	$9,670			$1,142			$8,528	38.2	37.2	966	1
370393001576	968	Oxendine Elementary	Public	PK, KG-6	5599 Oxendine School Rd	Maxton	28364	Robeson County	Public Schools of Robeson County	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 843-4243	321	20	16	99.1%	14 (4.4%)	13 (4.0%)	7 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	253 (78.8%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (10.6%)	$11,200			$1,851			$9,348	38	33.6	1029	61
370237001032	969	Wilson's Mills Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	4654 Wilson's Mills Rd	Wilsons Mills	27593	Johnston County	Johnston County Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(919) 934-2978	540	40	13.6	99.4%	91 (16.9%)	123 (22.8%)	279 (51.7%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (8.3%)	$11,582			$1,639			$9,943	37.9	43.9	870	99
370345001417	970	Bell Fork Elementary	Public	K-5	500 Bell Fork Rd	Jacksonville	28540	Onslow County	Onslow County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(910) 347-4459	539	38	14.1	72.9%	141 (26.2%)	218 (40.4%)	126 (23.4%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (9.1%)	$9,844			$1,331			$8,513	37.9	39.1	952	18

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for North Carolina

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for NC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on EOG Mathematics, EOG Reading, EOG Science test scores released by the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 4, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.