The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Science. The lowest is 54% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Roger Bell New Tech Academy
Roger Bell New Tech Academy sits in Havelock, a military town shaped by Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and the surrounding defense ecosystem. The school is one of the elementary options in Craven County, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in a regular public setting.
The school enrolls a full cross-section of the local community. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of military families and base-adjacent workers. The student body is racially and ethnically mixed, with White, Black, and multiracial students each representing substantial shares, along with smaller Hispanic and other groups. No data on special education or English learner enrollments were available.
The most recent state testing data (grades three through five) shows mixed academic ground. Math proficiency sits in the mid-range, with about three-fifths of tested students meeting grade-level standard. English language arts lags a bit lower, just over half meeting proficiency. Science performance is notably stronger, with roughly seven in ten students proficient. These results reflect where the school is now; parents may want to look into recent trends and the school's improvement initiatives directly with the school to understand momentum.
Havelock's housing market runs moderately compared to North Carolina and the nation. Home values are stable and affordable for the region, with rents relatively accessible. The town's economy is anchored to the military installation and the massive Fleet Readiness Center East maintenance depot nearby, creating a stable but transient population. Military families rotate frequently, so Roger Bell serves a steady flow of newcomers and frequent movers. That reality shapes the school's culture and the peer group any student will encounter.
The town itself is car-dependent, with minimal walkability and few pedestrian amenities outside the base. Daily life runs along the U.S. 70 corridor through strip retail and chain stores. Schools are on separate suburban campuses, not woven into a dense downtown. For civic life and cultural amenities beyond military recreation, families often drive to nearby New Bern.
A significant recent district shift affects Roger Bell and all Craven County schools: after over a year of planning, the Board voted in October 2024 to halt a countywide redistricting that would have closed schools and reassigned hundreds of students. Instead, the district moved to limited, targeted reassignments. This decision preserved existing attendance zones, a major signal of stability for families choosing a home based on school assignment. Additionally, the state awarded the district a substantial grant in early 2024 to expand Tucker Creek Middle School in Havelock with classrooms, materially increasing capacity for the feeder pattern that includes Roger Bell students.
The district has also implemented the state Parents' Bill of Rights framework and shifted to partisan, single-member-district elections for the school board. These governance and policy changes reshape how families interact with and evaluate the board.
For a family weighing Roger Bell, the picture is a solid elementary option in a stable, military-rooted community with accessible housing and straightforward logistics. The peer environment is transient and economically stretched. Academic performance is middling, strongest in science. The school sits within a district that has chosen stability over major restructuring, and that local commitment to the Havelock side of the county is reinforced by a middle-school expansion underway.
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