Enrollment
217
Elementary
DISTRICT 390 · STATE 467
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BUNCOMBE COUNTY SCHOOLS·NCES 370045000153
Johnston Elementary
230 Johnston Boulevard, Asheville, NC 28806 · (828) 232-4291 · Buncombe County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL217 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 3% of North Carolina public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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
12.5:1
17 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.1:1 · STATE 14.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
214 students
DISTRICT 96% · STATE 82%
Community
0
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 | 32 | 15% |
| Kindergarten | 38 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 35 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 44 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 33 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 35 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (38) is 9% larger than its 4th grade class (35).
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 54% · 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
28.2%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
26.8%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 28 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 27 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of NC schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
27.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.7%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-21.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 28% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 49% typical for North Carolina schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Johnston Elementary
Johnston Elementary's state test result (27.5% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnston Elementary this school | 217 | 98.6% | 27.5% |
| Dublin Primary Dublin | 234 | 98.7% | 39.7% |
| Gardners Elementary Elm City | 280 | 98.2% | 71.0% |
| Bladen Lakes Primary Elizabethtown | 166 | 95.8% | 40.0% |
| Southern Elementary Greensboro | 215 | 98.6% | 60.6% |
| Emma Elementary Asheville | 277 | 98.2% | 37.6% |
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 Johnston Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In North Carolina | In Buncombe County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.5% | #1,264 of 1,297 | #27 of 27 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.8% | #1,270 of 1,296 | #27 of 27 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.2% | #1,219 of 1,300 | #26 of 27 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 217 | #1,349 of 1,485 | #26 of 33 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.5:1 | #141 of 1,377 | #4 of 26 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.4% | #282 of 1,379 | #2 of 26 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.6% | #803 of 1,414 | #9 of 29 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -22.8% | #213 of 937 | #5 of 18 |
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
217
-3 (-1%) vs 2020
-22% since 1990-91, when it was 277
Student : Teacher
12.5:1
was 10.0:1
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 | 217 | 17.4 | 12.5:1 | 99% (214) |
| 2023-24 | 184 | 18.4 | 10.0:1 | 98% (181) |
| 2022-23 | 203 | 19.2 | 10.6:1 | 99% (200) |
| 2020-21 | 220 | 22 | 10.0:1 | 99% (217) |
| 2017-18 | 281 | 23.4 | 12.0:1 | 96% (270) |
| 2015-16 | 294 | 25 | 11.8:1 | 99% (291) |
| 2010-11 | 374 | 29 | 12.9:1 | 90% (338) |
| 2000-01 | 289 | 25 | 11.6:1 | 71% (206) |
| 1990-91 | 277 | 20 | 13.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Johnston Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 23% (281 to 217); teachers down 26% (23.4 to 17.4).
About Johnston Elementary
Johnston Elementary is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as an elementary school in Asheville, North Carolina. The school enrolls 217 students, from pre-K through 4. An average school in this group (elementary schools in North Carolina) has about 467 students.
Johnston Elementary is a school in Buncombe County Schools. The district has 45 schools and 22,452 students.
By race and ethnicity, the largest group at Johnston Elementary is Hispanic (40%). Other groups make up 34% White, 19% Black, and 6% multiracial. Buncombe County as a whole is about 9% Hispanic, so the school's share is higher. Johnston Elementary has a diversity index of 68%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Federal records show a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.5:1 at Johnston Elementary, with 17.4 full-time-equivalent teachers. The 14.9:1 average for elementary schools in North Carolina is higher than this school's figure. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, a common measure of family income, is 99%. For comparison, public schools in Buncombe County average 88%.
Measured against North Carolina public elementary schools, Johnston Elementary receives an F. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Johnston Elementary is -21.2 points, in the bottom 10% of North Carolina. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 27.5%, and the predicted rate is 48.7%.
Within Buncombe County, median household income is about $74,436, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 46% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Federal data list 61 public schools in Buncombe County, with a combined enrollment of about 29,908.
The closest other public school is Lucy S. Herring Elementary, about 1.2 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Johnston Elementary ranks 6th of 7 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 27.5% against a local average of 46.8%.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Small: inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment in 2024-25 was 217, close to the 220 recorded in 2020-21. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 10.0:1; by 2024-25 it was 12.5:1.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Buncombe County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
274,360
Census ACS
Median income
$74,436
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
61
29,908 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Buncombe County Schools
- Roberson HighHigh · 1,479 students
- Reynolds HighHigh · 1,169 students
- Enka HighHigh · 1,051 students
- Erwin HighHigh · 1,013 students
- North Buncombe HighHigh · 896 students
- Estes ElementaryElementary · 754 students
Other schools in Asheville
- Roberson HighHigh · 1,479 students
- IC ImagineCombined · 1,239 students
- Asheville HighHigh · 1,221 students
- Reynolds HighHigh · 1,169 students
- Erwin HighHigh · 1,013 students
- Estes ElementaryElementary · 754 students
Other Johnston Elementary schools
5 other US public schools in 6 states are named Johnston Elementary. Johnston Elementary is the 5th largest of the 6.
- Johnston Elementary SchoolIRVING, TX · 725 students
- Johnston Elementary SchoolWoodstock, GA · 543 students
- Johnston ElementaryAppleton, WI · 286 students
- Johnston ElementaryJohnston, SC · 276 students
- Johnston Elementary SchoolHopkinton, IA · 94 students
Nearby schools
- Lucy S. Herring Elementary1.2 mi · 255
- Francine Delany New School1.7 mi · 193
- Emma Elementary1.8 mi · 277
- Asheville PEAK Academy1.9 mi · 161
- West Buncombe Elementary2.1 mi · 580
- Eblen Intermediate2.2 mi · 566
Frequently asked questions
About Johnston ElementaryHow many students attend Johnston Elementary?
Johnston Elementary enrolls approximately 217 students in grades PK-04.
What age range does Johnston Elementary serve?
Johnston Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 04.
How many students per teacher at Johnston Elementary?
Approximately 12.5:1 students per teacher at Johnston Elementary.
How diverse is Johnston Elementary?
Johnston Elementary reports a student body of 34% White, 40% Hispanic, 19% Black, 6% Two or more.
Is Johnston Elementary public or private?
Johnston Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Buncombe County Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.