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Which teacher or staff member at Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
459
Elementary
DISTRICT 354 · STATE 467
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RUTHERFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS·NCES 370408001639
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School
286 Learning Parkway, Forest City, NC 28043 · (828) 245-4978 · Rutherford County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL459 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 87% of North Carolina public elementary schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded North Carolina public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
18.4:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 14.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
98%
451 students
DISTRICT 97% · STATE 82%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 36 | 8% |
| Kindergarten | 58 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 78 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 71 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 71 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (58) is 18% smaller than its 5th grade class (71).
Student demographics
73%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 50% · STATE 71% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
NC EOG / EOC 2024-25 . % Grade Level Proficient (Level 3+)English Language Arts
63.5%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
75.3%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 64 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 75 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all North Carolina schools, those numbers are about 51 and 52.
Source: NC EOG / EOC. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of NC schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
68.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.8%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+19.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 68% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 49% typical for North Carolina schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 19 points, placing it in North Carolina's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School's state test result (68.3% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School this school | 459 | 98.3% | 68.3% |
| Armstrong Elementary Eastover | 456 | 98.5% | 72.7% |
| Banks Elementary Kinston | 436 | 99.3% | 62.8% |
| Long Mill Elementary Youngsville | 433 | 99.3% | 54.1% |
| C.F. Pope Elementary Burgaw | 530 | 97.7% | 35.6% |
| Howard L Hall Elementary Fayetteville | 539 | 99.4% | 61.9% |
Matched among North Carolina elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In North Carolina | In Rutherford County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 68.3% | #270 of 1,297 | #4 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 75.3% | #204 of 1,296 | #4 of 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 63.5% | #255 of 1,300 | #5 of 10 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 459 | #728 of 1,485 | #3 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.4:1 | #1,312 of 1,377 | #7 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 72.8% | #63 of 1,379 | #1 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.3% | #872 of 1,414 | #4 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.0% | #330 of 369 | N/A |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
459
-49 (-10%) vs 2020
+21% since 1990-91, when it was 378
Student : Teacher
18.4:1
was 14.1:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 459 | 24.9 | 18.4:1 | 98% (451) |
| 2023-24 | 487 | 31.9 | 15.3:1 | 99% (484) |
| 2022-23 | 479 | 36.8 | 13.0:1 | 99% (476) |
| 2020-21 | 508 | 36 | 14.1:1 | 98% (497) |
| 2017-18 | 450 | 34.7 | 13.0:1 | 99% (447) |
| 2015-16 | 464 | 31 | 15.0:1 | 99% (461) |
| 2010-11 | 504 | 30 | 16.8:1 | 92% (463) |
| 2000-01 | 345 | 17 | 20.3:1 | 47% (163) |
| 1990-91 | 378 | 22 | 17.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (450 to 459); teachers down 28% (34.7 to 24.9).
About Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school in Forest City, North Carolina, administered by Rutherford County Schools. A federal count lists 459 students at the school, in pre-K through 5.
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School falls under Rutherford County Schools, which has 18 schools enrolling 7,394 students.
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School's enrollment has no majority group, and Black students are the largest at 35%. The school is also 31% White, 19% Hispanic, and 13% multiracial. The Black share of the county population is lower, at 8%. Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School has a diversity index of 73%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
A ratio of 18.4:1 comes from the school's 24.9 full-time-equivalent teachers. For comparison, elementary schools in North Carolina average 14.9:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 98% in 2024-25. That is close to the 98% average for public schools in Rutherford County.
The allk12 Grade for Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School is A. Compared with North Carolina public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 87% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate on state tests for Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School is 48.8%. It actually posts 68.3%, which is 19.4 points higher and in the top 10% of North Carolina schools.
Within Rutherford County, median household income is about $51,410, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 22%, and roughly 13% of residents are in poverty. The public schools of Rutherford County number 20 and enroll about 9,205.
Rutherford Opportunity Center is the public school closest to Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School, about 1.5 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are 7 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 57.7%; Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School's is 68.3%, ranking 3rd of 8.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Town: Distant, meaning it is in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School went from 508 students to 459. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 14.1:1 to 18.4:1.
Topics for discussion here include school safety, transportation, and start times. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Rutherford County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
64,930
Census ACS
Median income
$51,410
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
20
9,205 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rutherford County Schools
- R-S Central High SchoolHigh · 763 students
- East Rutherford High SchoolHigh · 623 students
- Chase High SchoolHigh · 596 students
- Ellenboro Elementary SchoolElementary · 567 students
- R-S Middle SchoolMiddle · 561 students
- East Rutherford Middle SchoolMiddle · 533 students
Other schools in Forest City
- Chase High SchoolHigh · 596 students
- Chase Middle SchoolMiddle · 484 students
- Forrest W. Hunt Elementary SchoolElementary · 460 students
- Harris Elementary SchoolElementary · 434 students
- Mt. Vernon-Ruth Elementary SchoolElementary · 231 students
- Rutherford Opportunity CenterHigh · 82 students
Nearby schools
- Rutherford Opportunity Center1.5 mi · 82
- Rutherford Early College High School2.4 mi · 208
- East Rutherford Middle School2.6 mi · 533
- East Rutherford High School3.2 mi · 623
- Forrest W. Hunt Elementary School3.4 mi · 460
- Spindale Elementary School3.4 mi · 337
Frequently asked questions
About Forest City-Dunbar Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School?
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School enrolls approximately 459 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School serve?
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many teachers does Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School have?
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School employs 25 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.4:1.
What is the student diversity at Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School?
Student demographics at Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School are roughly 31% White, 19% Hispanic, 35% Black, 2% Asian, 13% Two or more.
Is Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School public or private?
Forest City-Dunbar Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Rutherford County Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.