Don D Steed Elementary

Don D Steed Elementary, a reasonably sized elementary campus in Raeford, North Carolina, operated by Hoke County Schools, enrolls 628 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 34% bigger than the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

Hoke County Schools runs 14 schools in total, collectively educating 8,732 students. Don D Steed Elementary is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Don D Steed Elementary logs that the most-represented group is Hispanic (32%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder looks like 28% White, 28% Black, 10% multiracial, 2% Native American. By comparison, Hoke County as a whole is about 16% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 54 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.6:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.9:1, putting Don D Steed Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. About 100% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Don D Steed Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.5%, the actual is 63.6%, a residual of +15.2 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Hoke County indicate the typical household earns roughly $64,912 per year, roughly 24% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 14% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Hoke County runs 14 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,732 students), of which Don D Steed Elementary is one.

Scurlock Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.1 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Don D Steed Elementary ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 51.2%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 9%: 691 students in 2018 compared to 628 in 2025. The White share of enrollment fell from 41% to 28% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 14.7:1 in 2018 to 11.6:1 today.

On this page, members of the Don D Steed Elementary community share and discuss pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.