The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Science. The lowest is 47% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Union Elementary
Union Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Rowland, a small rural town in southern Robeson County near the South Carolina border. The school has a small enrollment and serves a student body that is predominantly American Indian, reflecting the demographics of the area. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a community facing economic hardship.
On state testing, Union Elementary's performance is uneven. In math, about two-thirds of tested students in grades three through six met proficiency. Science showed stronger results, with a larger share of students meeting or exceeding the standard. English language arts lagged behind both subjects, with less than half of tested students achieving proficiency. This pattern suggests strengths in quantitative reasoning and science but a need for literacy support.
The school is part of Public Schools of Robeson County, a district that ranks last in North Carolina for local per-student spending and has struggled with constrained resources. In 2025, the district lost a substantial amount of federal pandemic relief funding it had planned to use for facility improvements, including window replacement at three elementary schools. That loss underscores real resource limits families should understand. On the positive side, the district has recently completed a new Career and Technical Education Center that opened in August 2025 in Pembroke, offering pathways in drone technology, culinary arts, mechatronics, welding, and other fields for high school students. The district has also adopted Science of Reading-aligned instruction at the elementary level, using EL Education for literacy and Eureka Math Squared for mathematics, with LETRS training for teachers, representing a structured literacy approach to early reading instruction.
Rowland itself is economically distressed, with population decline over decades and a limited local employment base. Home values in the area are significantly below state and national averages, making housing affordable but signaling little property appreciation or new investment. Most residents commute for work to nearby Dillon, South Carolina, or Lumberton. The town has recently undertaken downtown beautification efforts, including streetscape improvements and renovation of its historic train depot into a community museum and event hall, completed in 2023. A small community park has also been renovated with new play equipment.
For families in Rowland, Union Elementary is the neighborhood school serving the youngest grades in the district. The data available does not include information on attendance, discipline, staffing ratios, or English learner enrollment, so parents may want to contact the school directly about those details. The school's literacy results warrant conversation with teachers and administrators about reading support and intervention pathways for students who are still building skills.
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