Parkwood Elementary

Parkwood Elementary is one of the mid-tier elementary-level communitys in Durham, North Carolina, part of Durham Public Schools, with 491 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5.

Within Durham Public Schools, which oversees 55 schools and 31,797 students, Parkwood Elementary is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Parkwood Elementary records that 55% of the student body identifies as Black. Beyond that, the school logs 20% Hispanic, 12% White, 11% multiracial. By comparison, Durham County as a whole is about 32% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

On the resource side, On paper, Parkwood Elementary has 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.9:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.9:1 average. Roughly 99% of students at Parkwood Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Parkwood Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 48.5%; this one delivers 34.0%.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Durham County indicate median household income runs about $82,316, about 55% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Durham County runs 74 public schools (combined enrollment of about 46,109 students), of which Parkwood Elementary is one.

Kestrel Heights School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Parkwood Elementary. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Parkwood Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 61.3%.

The campus sits in a high-density setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Parkwood Elementary's enrollment has edged down 9% since 2018, when it stood at 537 (now 491). Over the same period, the Hispanic share edged down from 25% to 20%.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.