NCES CCD 2024-25 14 schools NC

Best-Resourced Schools in Clayton, NC

Compiled from official source data by .

14 public K-12 schools in Clayton from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
14
Schools
13,708
Students
40.2/100
Avg Resource Index
16.4:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Clayton has more public-school enrollment than 87% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Clayton sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

8 of Clayton's 14 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 21-point gap between Riverwood Elementary and Johnston Charter Academy shows the range hidden by Clayton's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 13%
School count
Top 25%
Resource Index average
46th percentile
Teacher staffing
39th percentile

American Leadership Academy - Johnston accounts for 15.2% of all Clayton public-school enrollment

That concentration means Clayton-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: Combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Clayton school enrollment varies 4.7× across entities

Clayton school enrollment ranges from 447 students (lowest) to 2,082 students (highest), a spread of 1,635 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Clayton student-teacher ratio is 16.4:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Clayton is typically wider than the Clayton-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

2 of Clayton's 14 listed schools are charters

14% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. Riverwood Elementary 48
2. Cooper Academy 47
3. Cleveland High 44
4. Cleveland Elementary 43
5. Powhatan Elementary 43
6. Clayton High 41
7. River Dell Elementary 41
8. Riverwood Middle 40
9. Swift Creek Middle 39
10. Clayton Middle 39
11. East Clayton Elementary 39
12. West Clayton Elementary 32
13. Johnston Charter Academy 27
14. American Leadership Academy - Johnston -

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Clayton

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 East Clayton Elementary 71.5/100
  2. 2 Cooper Academy 71.4/100
  3. 3 West Clayton Elementary 71.2/100
  4. 4 Johnston Charter Academy 71.0/100
  5. 5 Clayton Middle 70.8/100

What do families ask about schools in Clayton?

Which Clayton school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Riverwood Elementary has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Clayton schools in this federal-data comparison at 48/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Clayton, NC? ▼

Clayton has 14 public schools with a total enrollment of 13,708 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 16.4:1.

Other Cities in North Carolina

Charlotte
176 schools
Raleigh
99 schools
Greensboro
83 schools
Durham
68 schools
Fayetteville
68 schools
Winston Salem
64 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in North Carolina →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.