Cliffside Elementary School

Set in Cliffside, North Carolina, Cliffside Elementary School is a cozy elementary school, operated by Rutherford County Schools. It works with 188 students across grades K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 60% below the state mean of about 467.

Rutherford County Schools comprises 18 schools with combined enrollment of 7,394 students; Cliffside Elementary School is among them.

On demographics, Cliffside Elementary School logs that 71% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school lists 17% Hispanic, 6% Black, 6% multiracial. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 82%.

Looking at school resources, The school reports having 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 95% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Cliffside Elementary School sits in the top 10% of North Carolina schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 49.9%; actual is 76.9%, +27.0 points clear of the demographic baseline.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Rutherford County shows median household earnings sit near $51,410, 22% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 13%. In all, Rutherford County runs 20 public schools (combined enrollment of about 9,205 students), of which Cliffside Elementary School is one.

Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 2.4 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 3 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Cliffside Elementary School comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 63.1%.

Cliffside Elementary School operates from a countryside location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Cliffside Elementary School has fell 33%, going from 282 students in 2018 to 188 in 2025. The White share of enrollment fell from 80% to 71% over that span.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.