The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Math. The lowest is 43% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Bell Fork Elementary
Bell Fork Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and enrolls a school community where a substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is racially and ethnically diverse, with a plurality of Black students, followed by a meaningful share of Hispanic students, white students, and a smaller number of students of multiple racial or ethnic backgrounds.
On state assessments administered in the most recent school year, the school's proficiency results show uneven performance across subjects. In math, about half of tested students in grades three through five met or exceeded the state standard. In English language arts, the proficiency rate falls below that, at just under half. Science proficiency, measured across a smaller tested group, falls further behind at around four in ten students. These results sit below where many families might hope a school would perform, and parents evaluating this school may want to examine the school's work on literacy and math instruction directly with staff.
The school's enrollment is small to mid-sized for an elementary serving the full primary and intermediate grades, with numbers relatively balanced across grade levels. The community that feeds Bell Fork is economically stressed; nearly three-quarters of enrolled students are economically disadvantaged by the federal measure. The school sits in Jacksonville, a military town anchored by Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where housing values remain well below both the state and national benchmarks. Rent is affordable and stable. The broader Jacksonville economy is shaped by active-duty and civilian Department of Defense employment, with healthcare, retail, and manufacturing providing other job opportunities. Civilian families in the area, including those not directly tied to the base, tend to stay for periods marked by school transitions and family needs rather than military PCS cycles, though the military culture infuses the city's character and civic life.
Onslow County Schools, the district that operates Bell Fork, has undertaken several district-wide changes that touch how literacy and classroom technology work. Since the 2021-2022 school year, the district has taught reading through a curriculum aligned with the science of reading, with kindergarten and first-grade students receiving structured daily literacy blocks focused on foundational skills, and intervention placement driven by diagnostic assessments like mClass and iReady. This is the literacy framework within which Bell Fork's teachers operate. The district has also implemented a cell phone restriction policy, effective since the 2023-2024 school year, that prohibits students from using or displaying phones during the school day, reinforced by a new state law that took effect for the 2025-2026 school year. Starting times have been standardized; Bell Fork, as an elementary school, runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Additionally, the district has rolled out generative AI tools for classroom use at all grade levels, with high school students working with curriculum-driven chatbots and writing-feedback tools governed by the district's published principles on security, privacy, ethics, and instructional integration.
Bell Fork is a regular public elementary school with no charter status or magnet designation. Data on staff, special education enrollment, English learner enrollment, discipline, and chronic absenteeism were not available. State testing results for science reflect a recent change in the state's science assessment, so trends cannot be safely computed.
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