Enrollment
296
Elementary
DISTRICT 449 · STATE 467
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CUMBERLAND COUNTY SCHOOLS·NCES 370001102130
Margaret Willis Elementary
1412 Belvedere Avenue, Fayetteville, NC 28305 · (910) 484-9064 · Cumberland County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL296 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 22% of North Carolina public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats 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
13.0:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.7:1 · STATE 14.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
98%
289 students
DISTRICT 89% · 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 | 18 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 47 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 50 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 58 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 36 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 37 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 50 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (47) is 6% smaller than its 5th grade class (50).
Student demographics
54%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 69% · 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
41.9%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
44.4%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 42 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
43.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.0%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 49% typical for North Carolina schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among North Carolina's top nor bottom 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 Margaret Willis Elementary
Margaret Willis Elementary's state test result (43.1% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret Willis Elementary this school | 296 | 97.6% | 43.1% |
| Central Elementary Jackson | 283 | 98.9% | 37.3% |
| Northside Elementary Norlina | 277 | 98.9% | 30.1% |
| Mariam Boyd Elementary Warrenton | 291 | 97.9% | 21.9% |
| Falkland Elementary Greenville | 271 | 98.9% | 43.3% |
| Sadie Saulter Greenville | 300 | 99.0% | N/A |
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 Margaret Willis Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In North Carolina | In Cumberland County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.1% | #1,023 of 1,297 | #32 of 45 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.4% | #1,049 of 1,296 | #28 of 45 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.9% | #876 of 1,300 | #31 of 45 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 296 | #1,186 of 1,485 | #40 of 50 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.0:1 | #215 of 1,377 | #5 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.1% | #901 of 1,379 | #41 of 46 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 97.6% | #949 of 1,414 | #35 of 49 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.9% | #817 of 937 | #30 of 36 |
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
296
+17 (+6%) vs 2020
-50% since 1990-91, when it was 590
Student : Teacher
13.0:1
was 10.7:1
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 | 296 | 22.8 | 13.0:1 | 98% (289) |
| 2023-24 | 323 | 25.5 | 12.7:1 | 99% (320) |
| 2022-23 | 299 | 25 | 12.0:1 | 99% (296) |
| 2020-21 | 279 | 26 | 10.7:1 | 99% (276) |
| 2017-18 | 308 | 26 | 11.8:1 | 99% (305) |
| 2015-16 | 342 | 26 | 13.2:1 | 96% (329) |
| 2010-11 | 332 | 30 | 11.1:1 | 84% (279) |
| 2000-01 | 450 | 27 | 16.7:1 | 82% (369) |
| 1990-91 | 590 | 28 | 21.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Margaret Willis Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 4% (308 to 296); teachers down 12% (26 to 22.8).
About Margaret Willis Elementary
Margaret Willis Elementary is a small elementary school for students in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It had 296 students in 2024-25, spanning pre-K through 5. Elementary schools in North Carolina have about 467 students on average; enrollment here is 37% lower.
Margaret Willis Elementary falls under Cumberland County Schools, which has 86 schools enrolling 49,002 students.
The share of Black students at Margaret Willis Elementary is 65%, a majority. The school is also 15% multiracial, 10% Hispanic, and 9% White. That is higher than the 38% Black share among all Cumberland County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 54%.
The school has 22.8 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 13.0 students per teacher. The average for elementary schools in North Carolina is 14.9:1, so this school has fewer students per teacher. The school reported 98% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. For comparison, public schools in Cumberland County average 86%.
Margaret Willis Elementary holds a C- allk12 Grade, placing it above 22% of North Carolina public elementary schools.
The model predicts 49.0% for a school in North Carolina with Margaret Willis Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share. Margaret Willis Elementary posts 43.1%.
Looking at the county, Cumberland County, the median household earns about $61,291 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 28%, and roughly 13% of residents are in poverty. Cumberland County has 89 public schools with about 50,815 students, including Margaret Willis Elementary.
Cumberland International Early College is about 0.5 miles away, making it the nearest public school. Within five miles of Margaret Willis Elementary, there are at least 8 other public schools. Margaret Willis Elementary is 2nd of 5 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
The school's locale code, City: Mid-size, means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school's student count increased 6% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years. The school's ratio increased from 10.7:1 to 13.0:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Margaret Willis Elementary. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Cumberland County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
338,545
Census ACS
Median income
$61,291
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
28%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
89
50,815 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Cumberland County Schools
- Jack Britt HighHigh · 1,940 students
- Pine Forest HighHigh · 1,551 students
- Cape Fear HighHigh · 1,515 students
- South View HighHigh · 1,461 students
- Gray's Creek HighHigh · 1,458 students
- Seventy-First HighHigh · 1,332 students
Other schools in Fayetteville
- Jack Britt HighHigh · 1,940 students
- Pine Forest HighHigh · 1,551 students
- Cape Fear HighHigh · 1,515 students
- Seventy-First HighHigh · 1,332 students
- Westover HighHigh · 1,234 students
- Terry Sanford HighHigh · 1,201 students
Nearby schools
- Cumberland International Early College0.5 mi · 237
- Cross Creek Early College0.7 mi · 253
- Alma O Easom Elementary0.8 mi · 301
- Terry Sanford High0.8 mi · 1,201
- Ferguson-Easley Elementary1.0 mi · 392
- E E Smith High1.0 mi · 1,017
Frequently asked questions
About Margaret Willis ElementaryHow large is Margaret Willis Elementary?
Margaret Willis Elementary enrolls approximately 296 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Margaret Willis Elementary serve?
Margaret Willis Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Margaret Willis Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Margaret Willis Elementary is approximately 13.0:1 (23 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Margaret Willis Elementary?
At Margaret Willis Elementary, the student body is approximately 9% White, 10% Hispanic, 65% Black, 15% Two or more.
Who oversees Margaret Willis Elementary?
Margaret Willis Elementary is overseen by Cumberland County Schools in Cumberland County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.