Lakewood Elementary

Lakewood Elementary is an elementary-level community of mid-sized scale in Durham, North Carolina, one of the schools within Durham Public Schools, hosting 439 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Lakewood Elementary is one of 55 schools operated by Durham Public Schools, a district that hosts 31,797 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Lakewood Elementary shows that 43% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 27% Black, 21% White, 6% multiracial, 3% Asian. By comparison, Durham County as a whole is about 16% Hispanic, so the school skews considerably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Lakewood Elementary has 39 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 11.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.9:1, putting Lakewood Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Lakewood Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.6%, the actual is 37.3%, a residual of -11.3 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Durham County indicate median household earnings sit near $82,316, 55% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Durham County runs 74 public schools (combined enrollment of about 46,109 students), of which Lakewood Elementary is one.

Lakewood Montessori Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Lakewood Elementary comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 66.6%.

Geographically, the school is in an urban area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Lakewood Elementary has increased 4%, going from 424 students in 2018 to 439 in 2025. The White share of enrollment rose from 3% to 21% over that span.

On allk12, members of the Lakewood Elementary community share and discuss pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.