Gibson Elementary

Gibson Elementary operates as a reasonably sized elementary school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, operated by Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools. Current enrollment sits at 589 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 467 students per school, that is 26% bigger than typical.

Within Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools, which oversees 79 schools and 51,745 students, Gibson Elementary is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Gibson Elementary reports that 49% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder looks like 37% Hispanic, 6% White, 6% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 25% Black, putting the school's mix considerably more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.4:1. The state averages around 14.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 99% of students at Gibson Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Forsyth County (around 88%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Gibson Elementary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 48.5%; this one comes in at 23.0%, -25.5 points off the demographic line.

Around the school, census data for Forsyth County shows median household income runs about $67,165, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Gibson Elementary is one of 88 public schools in Forsyth County (combined enrollment of about 55,902 students).

The closest other public school is Northwest Middle, roughly 0.4 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Gibson Elementary comes 6th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 39.3%.

The school occupies an urban site.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 13%: 677 students in 2018 compared to 589 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 42% to 37% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 14.0:1 in 2018 to 12.4:1 today.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.