The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in Math. The lowest is 58% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Old Main Stream Academy
Old Main STREAM Academy is a small charter school in Pembroke serving kindergarten through sixth grade, with an enrollment of about the size expected for that grade span in a rural county. The school sits within a single-school charter district and is distinctive for its approach rather than for scale or traditional test standing.
The school's defining feature is its STREAM curriculum—Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics—woven together with place-based, project-centered learning rooted in the Lumber River ecosystem and Lumbee cultural pedagogy. Rather than STREAM as an add-on, the school embeds the North Carolina Standard Course of Study within this framework. Students learn science by collecting samples from the Lumber River, for instance, anchoring abstract instruction to the landscape and community that surrounds them. This pedagogy is intentional and consistent since the school's founding in 2021, developed in partnership with UNC Pembroke and tribal leadership, and it remains the reason families choose this school over the surrounding Robeson County public district.
On state assessments in 2024-25, the school's math proficiency rate sits in the mid-to-high range for elementary grades, while reading (ELA) proficiency is notably lower, near the midpoint or below for its grade band. Science results are solid. The school tested a small group of students on the updated state science assessment, so that snapshot is limited. State testing data do not permit comparison to other schools or districts. A parent may want to discuss proficiency trends and reading instruction directly with the school.
The student body is predominantly Lumbee (Native American), reflecting both Pembroke's tribal identity and the school's explicit embrace of Indigenous pedagogy and cultural grounding. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, consistent with rural North Carolina. The school has no reported data on special education enrollment or English learner enrollment; it is unclear whether these gaps reflect low incidence or data reporting gaps, and a parent should ask.
The school is small and young, having opened in 2021. It now serves about the number of students appropriate for K-6 across one building. Critically, the district has broken ground on a new PreK-12 facility at the ComTech Business Center, scheduled to open in the 2026-27 school year, designed to accommodate growth as the school adds grade levels. This is a significant shift: Old Main STREAM currently operates from a leased building (the former North Carolina Baptist Children's Home) and offers only elementary grades. Once the new campus opens, a child entering kindergarten now could potentially remain at the same school through twelfth grade, eliminating mid-career transitions that are otherwise routine in small districts. The school is already expanding one grade per year, with seventh grade added in 2024-25 and eighth expected by the following year.
Pembroke itself is a quiet, rural Robeson County town of small population, home to UNC Pembroke and the seat of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. The town is car-dependent, though a downtown revitalization and complete-streets project is underway to link the historic center, the university, and the tribal governmental complex with sidewalks, bike lanes, and pedestrian infrastructure. Housing is affordable relative to the state and national benchmarks, and the rental market dominates; for-sale inventory is thin. Employment centers on the university, the tribal government, Walmart, and the public school district itself. This is a place shaped by Indigenous identity, higher education, and small-town rurality rather than by growth or sprawl.
Families drawn to this school are typically choosing the place-based, culturally grounded STREAM model and the Lumbee community presence over proximity to suburban amenities or breadth of course offerings at a conventional high school (which remains unavailable until the new building opens). The school's strength lies in its coherent pedagogical vision and community rootedness. The reading proficiency gap is a real soft spot to understand before enrolling. The new facility under construction is the major context shift: what is now a temporary, small elementary operation is becoming a permanent, purpose-built PreK-12 campus, materially altering the long-term pathway available to a student and family.
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