Coopers Elementary

Coopers Elementary, a reasonably sized primary school in Elm City, North Carolina, run under Nash County Public Schools, teaches 591 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 27% above the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

Nash County Public Schools comprises 28 schools with combined enrollment of 14,587 students; Coopers Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Coopers Elementary records that White students make up the majority at 61%. The remainder breaks down as 20% Black, 13% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. By comparison, Nash County as a whole is about 48% White, so the school skews considerably more White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 14.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 99% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Coopers Elementary ranks in the top 10% of North Carolina public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 48.5%; Coopers Elementary posts 69.0%, +20.6 points above that line.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Nash County put the typical household earns roughly $62,426 per year, 22% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Coopers Elementary is one of 27 public schools in Nash County (combined enrollment of about 14,285 students).

Nash Central Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 4.9 miles from this campus. Within ten miles, there are 8 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Coopers Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 64.8%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Coopers Elementary has declined 6%, going from 629 students in 2018 to 591 in 2025. Class-load math has widened: from 16.6:1 in 2018 to 17.9:1 in 2025.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.