The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Math. The lowest is 28% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Rowland Norment Elementary
Rowland Norment Elementary is a small public school serving pre-kindergarten through third grade in Lumberton, North Carolina. The enrollment is roughly composed of equal parts kindergarten through third grade, with a smaller pre-K cohort. The school sits within the Public Schools of Robeson County, a district that in recent years has adopted structured-literacy curriculum at the elementary level and is building out career and technical education pathways at the high school level.
The student population is predominantly economically disadvantaged. An extremely high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the broader economic circumstances of Robeson County, where poverty rates are elevated and the local tax base constrains school funding. Racially and ethnically, the school's population is diverse: roughly equal shares of Black and Hispanic students make up the plurality, with a substantial share of American Indian students, smaller shares of children identifying as two or more races or white, and a very small number of Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students. English learner and special education enrollment data were not available.
State testing results in mathematics show that just over half of third-grade students scored at proficient or above on the End-of-Grade assessment. In English language arts, the picture is notably weaker: about a quarter of third graders met proficiency. These two results diverge in a way that warrants attention; a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what reading instruction looks like in the early grades and whether the district's recent adoption of structured-literacy curriculum and LETRS teacher training has taken hold at this building.
Lumberton itself is a small city of mixed character: a restored historic downtown with civic anchors like the public library, the Carolina Civic Center Historic Theater, and the Downtown Riverwalk, alongside sprawling commercial strips and I-95 corridors where most new growth occurs. The city is car-dependent, with a low walk score and minimal street life outside the downtown core. Major employers center on healthcare (UNC Health Southeastern operates the regional hospital system), education, government, retail, and I-95-driven distribution and logistics. Agriculture remains important in the county beyond the city. Lumberton is recovering slowly from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence; housing values are projected to be flat to slightly negative into 2026, though new apartment construction, much of it subsidized by state tax credits, is underway. Employment in the city has edged down slightly year to year.
Housing in the Lumberton area remains affordable relative to state and national benchmarks. Median home values and monthly mortgage costs sit well below state and national averages, and rent-to-income ratios are moderate, though slightly elevated when set against national norms. For a family considering Lumberton, the trade-offs are clear: low cost of living and stable, if modest, employment, weighed against a small-city economy and schools that face real resource constraints. The district ranks last in North Carolina for local per-student spending, and recent federal pandemic-relief funding that had been earmarked for facility upgrades was canceled in 2025, leaving some planned improvements unfunded. At the same time, the district's investment in structured-literacy training and the opening of a new Career and Technical Education Center in Pembroke represent genuine efforts to strengthen instruction and pathways. For a young student just entering elementary school, reading instruction in the early grades will be a concrete thing to ask about.
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