The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Math. The lowest is 42% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Smith Farm Elementary
Smith Farm Elementary serves students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Winston-Salem, a mid-sized city that has spent the last two decades reinventing itself from a tobacco-era economy into a diverse employment and innovation hub. The school sits in the southwestern part of the city at Johnny Knoll Lane in the 27107 zip code.
The student body is economically very high-need. Nearly all students—a share substantially above the state and county norms—qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and more than nine in ten of the school's enrollment are students of color. The largest share are Hispanic, followed closely by Black students, with smaller populations of Asian, multiracial, and white students. The school does not report counts for students with IEPs or English learners; without those figures, it is difficult to know the full picture of support needs, though a parent may want to ask the school directly about those services.
State test results from spring 2025 show proficiency rates in the mid-range to lower end. In mathematics, about half of students tested met or exceeded the proficiency standard. In English language arts, the rate was lower, with about four in ten students meeting the standard. In science—where a smaller subset of students were tested—proficiency was in the mid-range. These numbers suggest many students are working below grade-level expectations in literacy, and math performance is mixed. This is not unusual for a school serving a population with limited economic resources and high rates of mobility, but a parent considering the school should understand that substantial catch-up or intensive support may be needed if a child is not already reading at grade level.
The school's enrollment is relatively small for its grade span, with the largest classes in the upper elementary grades and smaller cohorts in pre-K and kindergarten. This can mean more individualized attention in some settings, though it also means fewer peers in the classroom.
Winston-Salem itself is a city in transition. The downtown and Innovation Quarter, anchored by medical research, technology, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings, are walkable and mixed-use. Wake Forest University, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, and Novant Health are the largest employers, alongside the school district itself. The city has been adding housing, and median home values and rents in the school's zip code are moderate relative to national benchmarks. However, a significant portion of the growth has been in higher-cost downtown lofts and new construction; affordable housing has been an explicit priority in the city's 2023 Downtown Plan and in the North East Winston-Salem Choice Neighborhood Initiative, a large public-housing replacement project off New Hope Lane targeting completion in 2027.
A parent should be aware that the district faced a construction-cost crisis in 2022. A planned new Smith Farm middle school and expansions at two other elementary schools were postponed indefinitely after bond construction estimates roughly doubled. The county commissioners addressed the overall bond shortfall in 2023 without raising property taxes, but families in Smith Farm's attendance area should understand that the promised new middle school is not on a confirmed timeline. Additionally, the district recently locked in a modified academic calendar starting in 2026-27 with an earlier August start and earlier May finish than the state standard, a change that affects summer childcare, camps, and test windows.
The school's state performance data carries an important qualification: science test results this year cannot be directly compared to prior years because the state changed both the test and its proficiency standards, so it is not yet clear whether proficiency is moving up, down, or holding steady. The math and ELA results are on the same standard as prior years, but state trend data for the school itself was not available in this dataset.
Smith Farm fits families who are looking for a small, neighborhood elementary school in a working-class area of Winston-Salem. It does not stand out for exceptional proficiency, but its modest enrollment, location in a city with genuine civic investment in mixed-income neighborhoods, and access to district resources are real strengths. Parents should plan for active engagement around literacy development and understand that the school's test scores reflect a student population facing real economic barriers, not a school that is failing but rather one that is serving families who need targeted, sustained academic support.
See more original research from School Decision →