First Ward Creative Arts Academy

First Ward Creative Arts Academy is one of the mid-tier elementary campuss in Charlotte, North Carolina, run under Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, with 421 students on its rolls from grades K through 5.

Across the 186 schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (145,014 students total), First Ward Creative Arts Academy accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, First Ward Creative Arts Academy logs that 76% of the student body identifies as Black. Beyond that, the school shows 13% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 3% White. By comparison, Mecklenburg County as a whole is about 30% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, First Ward Creative Arts Academy lists 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.7:1. The state averages about 14.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 99% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is north of Mecklenburg County's rate of about 71%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, First Ward Creative Arts Academy performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.5%, the actual is 51.7%, a residual of +3.2 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Mecklenburg County) logs that median household income runs about $87,005, roughly 49% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Mecklenburg County's 226 public schools (combined enrollment of about 170,407 students), First Ward Creative Arts Academy is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Piedmont Middle School, around 0.6 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around First Ward Creative Arts Academy. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts First Ward Creative Arts Academy at 5th of 8; the average score across the group is 57.3%.

First Ward Creative Arts Academy operates from a downtown location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 27%: 577 students in 2018 compared to 421 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 23% to 13% across the same window.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.