U.S. News & World Report has released its 2027 list of the best elementary and middle schools by state. The national ranking includes about 46,000 public elementary schools and more than 24,000 middle schools that are ranked at the state and district levels. Greenville and Charleston counties stood out among the top 10 in South Carolina. More than half the top-ranked schools had a magnet program and one was a charter school.
Greenville had five elementary schools on the top-10 list and one middle school. Charleston had three elementary schools among the top 10 and seven middle schools.
Half of each school’s ranking is based on test-score results. In South Carolina, that would be the SC READY assessments of reading and math. The other half measures how well schools performed above (or below) statistically predicted results. For this, the magazine’s staff factored in a school’s poverty rates and the proportion of students from historically underserved populations. Schools that outperform expectations receive higher scores, while those that fall short receive lower scores.
This methodology is different from the S.C. Report Cards that were released last week. For those, state officials examined test scores as well as year-over-year progress on those test scores. It also factored in the performance of English-language learners, science scores on SC READY and surveys that asked teachers and students about their sense of safety and learning attitudes at their schools.
Top elementary schools in South Carolina
Buist Academy (Charleston magnet school)
Belle Hall Elementary School (Charleston)
Sterling School (Greenville neighborhood and magnet school)
Augusta Circle Elementary School (Greenville)
Tigerville Elementary School (Greenville)
Stone Academy (Greenville neighborhood and magnet school)
E.L. Wright Middle School (Richland 2 neighborhood and magnet school)
Oakview Elementary School (Greenville)
Mt. Pleasant Academy (Charleston)
Royall Elementary School (Florence 1).
Top middle schools in SC
The top 10 middle schools, some of which are magnet programs, were:
Sterling School (Greenville neighborhood and magnet school)
Buist Academy (Charleston magnet school)
Charleston School of the Arts (Charleston magnet school)
Rollings Middle School of the Arts (Dorchester 2 magnet school)
Southwood Academy for the Arts (Anderson 5 magnet school)
Moultrie Middle School (Charleston)
Thomas C. Cario Middle School (Charleston)
Laing Middle School (Charleston neighborhood and magnet school)
Montessori Community School (Charleston neighborhood and magnet school)
Orange Grove Charter School (Charleston charter school)
For the full list and more information, visit www.usnews.com/education/k12.
Source: www.postandcourier.com
