Enrollment
254
Elementary
DISTRICT 354 · STATE 467
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RUTHERFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS·NCES 370408002479
Pinnacle Elementary School
1204 Painters Gap Road, Rutherfordton, NC 28139 · (828) 287-3440 · Rutherford County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL254 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 71% of North Carolina public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-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
16.0:1
16 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 14.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
96%
245 students
DISTRICT 97% · 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 | 12 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 50 | 20% |
| Grade 1 | 39 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 40 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 34 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 37 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 42 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (50) is 19% larger than its 5th grade class (42).
Student demographics
31%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 50% · 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
56.6%
NC avg 50.9%
Math
65.5%
NC avg 52.2%
What this means: On the NC EOG / EOC, North Carolina's statewide test, about 57 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 66 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
61.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.4%
based on NC schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+12.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 62% 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 Pinnacle Elementary School
Pinnacle Elementary School's state test result (61.9% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinnacle Elementary School this school | 254 | 96.5% | 61.9% |
| Nathanael Greene Elementary Liberty | 263 | 98.1% | 53.6% |
| Fall Creek Elementary East Bend | 251 | 96.4% | 66.7% |
| Southmont Elementary Lexington | 281 | 98.9% | 54.5% |
| Mount Pleasant Elementary School Ferguson | 237 | 98.7% | 47.8% |
| Mt. Vernon-Ruth Elementary School Forest City | 231 | 98.7% | 60.2% |
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 Pinnacle Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In North Carolina | In Rutherford County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 61.9% | #448 of 1,297 | #7 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 65.5% | #458 of 1,296 | #8 of 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 56.6% | #421 of 1,300 | #7 of 10 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 254 | #1,287 of 1,485 | #7 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.0:1 | #1,032 of 1,377 | #1 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 31.1% | #1,275 of 1,379 | #7 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 96.5% | #1,018 of 1,414 | #6 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.2% | #443 of 937 | #4 of 6 |
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
254
+31 (+14%) vs 2020
-48% since 2000-01, when it was 491
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
was 13.9:1
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 | 254 | 15.9 | 16.0:1 | 96% (245) |
| 2023-24 | 227 | 15.8 | 14.3:1 | 99% (224) |
| 2022-23 | 234 | 18 | 13.0:1 | 99% (231) |
| 2020-21 | 223 | 16 | 13.9:1 | 99% (220) |
| 2017-18 | 296 | 18.7 | 15.8:1 | 99% (293) |
| 2015-16 | 300 | 21 | 14.3:1 | 98% (295) |
| 2010-11 | 360 | 22 | 16.4:1 | 64% (231) |
| 2000-01 | 491 | 23 | 21.4:1 | 46% (228) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pinnacle Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (296 to 254); teachers down 15% (18.7 to 15.9).
About Pinnacle Elementary School
Pinnacle Elementary School is a small elementary school in North Carolina, located in Rutherfordton. Enrollment totals 254 students across pre-K through 5. That puts enrollment 46% below the 467-student average for elementary schools in North Carolina.
Rutherford County Schools has 18 schools and 7,394 students, and Pinnacle Elementary School is one of those schools.
Pinnacle Elementary School is 82% White by enrollment. Other reported shares: 9% Hispanic, 6% Black, and 4% multiracial. That is in line with Rutherford County, where about 82% of residents are White. A diversity index of 31% means there is a 31% chance two randomly chosen students at Pinnacle Elementary School are from different groups.
Its staff includes 15.9 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 16.0 students per teacher. Across elementary schools in North Carolina, the average ratio is 14.9:1. Pinnacle Elementary School has a free or reduced-price lunch rate of 96%. Public schools in Rutherford County average a similar 98%.
Among North Carolina public elementary schools, Pinnacle Elementary School outscored 71%, which works out to a B+ on the allk12 Grade.
In North Carolina, Pinnacle Elementary School is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 61.9% actual against a predicted 49.4%.
In Rutherford County, home to about 64,930 people, the median household earns about $51,410 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 22% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 13%. Public schools in Rutherford County number 20, with about 9,205 students.
R-S Central High School is the nearest public school to Pinnacle Elementary School, about 4.9 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, 2 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Pinnacle Elementary School is ahead of the 56.2% nearby average, ranking 4th of 9.
NCES assigns Pinnacle Elementary School the locale Rural: Distant, meaning in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
Enrollment was 254 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 223. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 13.9:1 to 16.0:1.
The Pinnacle Elementary School discussion page is a place for open houses, carpools, and field trips. You can also rate the school on this page.
Rutherford County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
64,930
Census ACS
Median income
$51,410
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
20
9,205 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rutherford County Schools
- R-S Central High SchoolHigh · 763 students
- East Rutherford High SchoolHigh · 623 students
- Chase High SchoolHigh · 596 students
- Ellenboro Elementary SchoolElementary · 567 students
- R-S Middle SchoolMiddle · 561 students
- East Rutherford Middle SchoolMiddle · 533 students
Other schools in Rutherfordton
- R-S Central High SchoolHigh · 763 students
- R-S Middle SchoolMiddle · 561 students
- Rutherfordton Elementary SchoolElementary · 397 students
Other Pinnacle Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Pinnacle Elementary. Pinnacle Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Pinnacle Elementary SchoolPinnacle, NC · 162 students
Nearby schools
- R-S Central High School4.9 mi · 763
- R-S Middle School5.0 mi · 561
- Mt. Vernon-Ruth Elementary School6.5 mi · 231
- Spindale Elementary School8.4 mi · 337
- Rutherfordton Elementary School9.3 mi · 397
- Glenwood Elementary School10.3 mi · 435
Frequently asked questions
About Pinnacle Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Pinnacle Elementary School?
Pinnacle Elementary School enrolls approximately 254 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Pinnacle Elementary School serve?
Pinnacle Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Pinnacle Elementary School?
Approximately 16.0:1 students per teacher at Pinnacle Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Pinnacle Elementary School?
At Pinnacle Elementary School, the student body is approximately 82% White, 9% Hispanic, 6% Black, 4% Two or more.
Is Pinnacle Elementary School public or private?
Pinnacle Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Rutherford County Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.