The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in Math. The lowest is 39% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Wayne Stem Academy
Wayne STEM Academy is a small charter school serving early elementary grades in Goldsboro, North Carolina, built around direct instruction and skill-level grouping rather than traditional age-based classrooms. The school enrolls about a small number of kindergarten through third-grade students, with meaningful representation across racial and ethnic groups: the student body is roughly balanced between Black students, white students, and students of multiple races and Hispanic students, with smaller numbers of American Indian and Alaska Native students. The school is currently mid-transition: it will leave its current Summit Road location by late June 2026 and move to a renovated temporary campus while a permanent facility is built.
The school's instructional approach centers on Direct Instruction with mastery-based, skill-level grouping in reading and math. Rather than organizing classes by age, students are grouped by reading and math skill level, which means a third grader might work alongside a first grader in the same skill group if they are reading at the same level. The school has published this pedagogy as its organizing principle, so a family considering Wayne STEM should understand this differs from typical grade-level classroom organization. The school is expanding: it grew to serve kindergarten through fifth grade by the 2025-26 school year and is now enrolling sixth-grade students, allowing families to keep their children at the school longer.
On state testing, third-grade proficiency results from 2024-25 are available. In math, roughly half of third graders tested met proficiency. In English language arts, proficiency was lower, at roughly four in ten third graders. The tested group was small. No data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education, or English learner enrollment was available. The school was new to its current status, so no trend data exists to show whether results are stable, rising, or falling. A parent may want to look into how the school's Direct Instruction model and skill-based grouping correlate with these outcomes and whether the school has data showing growth trajectories within its skill-level framework, which would not always show up in single-point-in-time proficiency rates.
The school serves Goldsboro, a county seat with a revitalized downtown along Center Street that has received substantial public and private investment in recent years. The downtown core has added roundabouts, extended sidewalks, public art, and the HUB, a multi-modal transit and public space anchoring new commercial and civic activity. Outside downtown, Goldsboro is a typical sprawl of highway retail and subdivisions shaped strongly by Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, which anchors significant population and employment in the area. Housing values in the school's zip code are below state benchmarks, and the area has seen new residential construction, including affordable housing and subdivision development serving military-connected families.
The transition to a temporary campus followed by a new permanent building is substantive. Families should confirm the timing and location of the temporary facility and understand how the move might affect school operations, transportation, or community routines during the 2026-27 school year.
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