Spring Valley Elementary School

2051 Northern Durham Parkway

School District

Durham Public
Grade

PK, K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:13
Type

public

School Map for Durham Public School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on October 03, 2024

We’re loving our first grade experience and we also had a great kindergarten year. This school is a hidden gem. The kids are loved here and my child looks forward to attending school.
Submitted by parent on June 02, 2024

Spring Valley has improved over the last year, with respect to handling IEPs and exceptional students. However, many teachers still fail to conform to basic, federally mandated guidelines regarding handling students with IEPs. EOG testing in North Carolina is visibly quite bad for such students, but as the data on this site shows, Spring Valley still falls well behind the state average. I believe that may of the staff and teachers are committed to serving every child, but a large minority are not adequately committed, and I believe that the Principal's leadership contributes to these issues. Our experiences with her have been extremely negative.
Submitted by parent on December 21, 2023

Our child has witnessed numerous fights and we’re only halfway through the school year. The administration doesn’t seem to do much about it. We’ve known several families that have left because their IEPs were not well-supported. There are many academically gifted children but only a few teachers with limited availability to support needs; there isn’t support from the administration to develop solutions for this group of kids. The teachers are great but SVE could benefit from a new Principal.Yes, kids at SVE are improving. But all kids coming out of the pandemic are improving. Believe this eating with caution.
Submitted by parent on October 20, 2023

We’re loving our Spring Valley experience. Communication is great. My son is very happy at this school!
Submitted by parent on October 12, 2023

I was skeptical to keep my Daughter who is now in 2nd grade here due to the lower rating before, etc. now you guys are rated a 7!!! Congratulations. I also see that the other schools I had in mind after visiting were not what I imagined. We are happy that we kept our daughter in Spring Valley!
Submitted by parent on September 06, 2023

Excited for the new school year. My kid couldn't wait for it to start. Administration is so caring. I feel my kids are so safe here. Staff and admin work hard to create a strong sense of community.
Submitted by parent on May 24, 2023

Transferred here from another DPS school and I feel like we found a secret gem of a school that no one knows about. It has been a wonderful experience.
Submitted by parent on July 19, 2021

The leadership has been helpful and extremely responsive to our concerns. They are committed to creating a learning environment where students feel supported and their needs are met.
Submitted by parent on May 24, 2021

This is our second year and I have been mostly pleased with Spring Valley! I find the principal and assistant principal to be incredibly engaged and responsive. Most of the challenges are those that exist at all schools in our society but it's nice to be in a school community with leaders that listen and act and make themselves available.
Submitted by parent on July 31, 2020

The current principal is deplorable. She does absolutely no follow-up. The principle allowed a child to urinate on my child with no consequences given to the other child. I do hope they give us a new Prinicipal like in the movie Lean on Me, a Mr. Joe Clark who will create change.
Submitted by parent on June 05, 2019

overall I rate it with the one. The lowest score possible due to overall lack of teamwork and communication within the school to facilitate a better learning facility without social factors in pending on other students or harmful thoughts and actions of others even being addressed and overall safety concerns as far as identity being check when a child is being signed out by someone and even as far as the bus driver not communicating to the school that he was bringing the child back to the school after he deliberately missed the stop while the parent was outside and I was told by the school I needed to take that up with department of transportation because it was not his problem.
Submitted by parent on May 31, 2018

Don' be fooled by low or high rankings...very please with the academics, my daughter came from a 10/10 school in Raleigh AB Combs and was only at grade level in reading with in 1/5 years at Spring valley she is now reading at a 6th grade level and she is in 3 rd grade, also AIG student and her math has picked up tremendously as well, teachers all seem like the care and genuinely want to do this job/ career.
Submitted by parent on December 07, 2017

When we first started this school, I was a little hesitant because of the reviews. We came in right when the school got a new principle and we have had a great experience ! Everyone at the school is friendly and there are a lot of events held to have everyone involved in the school. Over all we have had a positive experience and my daughter has enjoyed going to this school.
Submitted by parent on December 18, 2016

Faculty and teachers care about the students and keep the kids engaged and learning. It's easy to talk or email teachers with questions you may have as a parent. Everything you'd want from an Elementary. So glad we decided to go here.
Submitted by other on August 28, 2016

Spring Valley is an excellent school and superb administration. They really care about the students. They are very engaging and motivating.
Submitted by other on August 05, 2016

My daughter had a fantastic year at SVE! The second grade teachers are wonderful! Her teacher found something she was good at (writing) and let her run with it. Her confidence in her writing and reading just bloomed with her teachers support and encouragement. The school put on an amazing Science Fair with outside speakers, DPS star gazing lab, and fantastic projects from the kids. My daughter loved working with the AIG teacher and all of the special teachers. The administration was supportive and easy to work with. I hear that the PTA has some exciting things planned for next year.
Submitted by parent on January 04, 2016

We are headed back to Spring Valley mid year from a charter school. My son attended SVE in Kindergarten and then we left because of the previous administration and friends leaving. We found that charter is not always the better option for children. We really clicked with the new principal when we met her. She has a great vision for the school. I encourage those thinking about attending Spring Valley to meet her. We're eager to be a part of the SVE community and to be a part of its success.
Submitted by other on December 22, 2015

I literally have left meetings at this school trembling with frustration and anger. I am desperately moving to pull my child out of this school. Especially if your child has learning deficiencies (not behavior, but simply takes longer to grasp concepts), avoid this school. We spent a brief period in Wake county and our child was doing much better there. Some of the teachers really do care, but unfortunately the one I have to deal with seems to have a chip on her shoulder. Then the lack of parental involvement leads to children doing and saying things that are simply not acceptable and show lack of discipline. I may sound extreme, but I literally feel horrible as each day my child stays in this school it's like she's being academically and/or psychologically damaged. I am determined to rescue her from this place.
Submitted by parent on August 30, 2015

My son has attended SVE 4 years. Overall, I am very pleased with the school. He is a bright student and he has been challenged with the curriculum and continues to flourish there. The school is very safe and the staff is positive. I am an active parent in the PTA and classroom and I think that if you are able to be involved in the school then your child will not have a problem. I highly recommend giving SVE a chance.
Submitted by parent on March 25, 2015

Sadly this school is so dissapointing. Two years in a row both my daughters teacher have told me how this school lacks so many resources and is planning on leaving to wake county, which they did! The principal seems cold and I feel is the main concern for the failure of the school. What good is it to have a new building but terrible education. Coming from wake county you really notice the difference. if you want to save yourself headaches, aND a undiverse environment and a principal that seems to just see your child as a score instead of their learning capabilities stay away from durham county. Worth spending more on a house and moving to wake county!!! I had a bad experience with my son who the unexperienced 23 year old teacher informed me he was doing good until end of year when he was on the retention list. Springs valley thinks that the soultion is retention if your child is not on grade level instead of getting them the help the need during the year! Sad we pay so much taxes and get terrible durham county schools that don't exceed our children's education!