The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Math. The lowest is 48% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Overhills Elementary
Overhills Elementary is a regular public school in Spring Lake that serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, drawing an enrollment of roughly nine hundred students across seven grades. The school sits in a small, car-dependent military town adjacent to Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty, where the base is the economic driver and most residents rent their homes. The median household income in the area is well below the national figure, and about half the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
On the most recent state assessments in grades three through five, math proficiency stands at roughly fifty-seven percent. In English language arts, proficiency is lower, at about forty-eight percent. Science proficiency, tested in a smaller cohort, comes in at roughly fifty-six percent. These numbers reflect a school where less than half of students are reading at grade level and where there is room for improvement, particularly in reading and writing. State assessment data from prior years was not available to show whether the school is trending upward or downward.
The student body is racially and ethnically mixed. White and Black students each make up roughly a third of enrollment. Hispanic students make up about a fifth. About thirteen percent identify as two or more races, and Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian students make up smaller shares. No data on special education enrollment or English learner enrollment appears in available records, so the school's capacity to serve those populations cannot be assessed here.
Spring Lake itself is a residential town built around military life and service-sector employment, with most commercial activity clustered along highways leading to the base and to Fayetteville about ten miles south. The town has experienced flat population growth over recent years but is in the early stages of deliberate redevelopment, with new townhome projects, mobile home park upgrades, and small commercial development moving forward. Housing is relatively affordable for the region, with median home values lower than the North Carolina and national benchmarks.
At the district level, Harnett County Schools was removed from the state's low-performing designation in fall 2025 after showing gains on multiple assessments. However, school-level grades still vary widely: thirteen schools hold D grades and two carry F grades, meaning performance is uneven across the district. A new middle school, Flatwoods, is under construction south of Lillington and is expected to open in fall 2026, which will relieve overcrowding at other middle schools including the one that would serve Overhills students moving up from elementary. Two of the district's middle schools have been selected for a five-year improvement initiative, bringing sustained outside instructional support.
For a family considering Overhills, the picture is of an elementary school serving a predominantly lower-income, military-adjacent community where less than half the tested students are meeting state grade-level benchmarks. The school's academic trajectory, staff stability, and peer culture would be worth exploring directly with the school. Parents may also want to understand the school's approach to reading intervention, since reading proficiency is notably lower than math. The fact that the wider district is emerging from low-performing status and investing in middle school capacity suggests momentum at the system level, though Overhills' own position within that improvement work would be worth clarifying.
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