Stough Elementary vs Partnership Elementary

Partnership Elementary ranks #17 of 2,648 schools in North Carolina, placing it in the top 1% statewide. Stough Elementary earns a strong #80 of 2,648 — top 3% — but trails by 63 positions in the state rankings. The overall rating gap is 0.3 points, with Partnership Elementary at 9.3/10 against Stough Elementary's 9.0/10. Both schools sit comfortably among Raleigh's strongest elementary options, but Partnership's ranking edge is substantial in a field this large.

On academics, Stough Elementary holds a narrow lead — 8.5/10 versus Partnership Elementary's 8.3/10, a 0.2-point difference that puts both schools in high-performing territory. Growth tells a different story: Stough Elementary scores 9.5/10 on student growth, and Partnership Elementary edges ahead at 9.9/10, the stronger of the two by 0.4 points. Partnership's near-perfect growth score signals that students there are consistently outpacing expected progress year over year, which is a meaningful signal beyond raw proficiency.

Stough Elementary enrolls 540 students across PK–05, roughly double Partnership Elementary's 273 students in grades KG–05. That size difference shows up in the student-teacher ratio: Stough Elementary runs 12.6 students per teacher, while Partnership Elementary offers a tighter 10.9:1 ratio — nearly two fewer students per teacher on average. Partnership Elementary also serves slightly more economically disadvantaged students, with 36% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch compared to 31% at Stough Elementary, yet still achieves the higher overall rating, which speaks to the strength of its outcomes relative to its demographic context.

The two schools serve overlapping but distinct grade ranges: Stough Elementary includes pre-kindergarten, giving families an earlier entry point, while Partnership Elementary begins at kindergarten. At 4.0 miles apart within Raleigh, both are realistically accessible to families in the same general corridor. The choice between them is not a clear quality mismatch — it is a trade-off between a larger school with a slight academic score edge and a smaller school with a superior growth score, tighter student-teacher ratio, and a significantly higher state ranking.