In South Carolina, 48.5% of Black students meet standards in ELA and math at the typical school — against 63.4% of White students. Within Berkeley County alone, the gap between the best and worst schools for Black children is 70 points. This tool helps you find the right one.
Search South Carolina schools ›Share of students meeting met or exceeding at the typical South Carolina school. Groups are shown wherever South Carolina reports them; a group is omitted from a school when too few students were tested to report safely.
These figures come from SC DOE ESSA 2025, measuring met or exceeding in ELA & Math · All grades. Across 150 districts, 1,241 South Carolina schools report enough results to be included.
At the typical South Carolina school the picture is black students at 48.5%, hispanic students at 37.6%, white students at 63.4% and asian students at 18.1%. That is a 45.3-point spread between the highest and lowest group, inside the same schools, the same districts and the same state — which is what this tool exists to make visible.
An A means 80% or more of Black students meet or exceed standards. Twenty-eight schools clear it — led by Buist Academy in Charleston at 96.4% with 56 Black student results. Another 105 schools reach 70%.
Howe Hall AIMS Elementary reaches 94.3%. Philip Simmons High, in the same district, sits at 23.9%. Across 43 schools in one county, a child's address decides which end they land on.
48.9% of Black students meet standards, against 75.4% of White students — measured across 463,700 Black student results. The gap is consistent enough that it looks less like variation and more like design.
These are the schools where Black students most often meet met or exceeding, among those with at least 25 Black student results reported. Every group's result is shown alongside, because a school that serves one group well and another poorly is telling you something too.
| School | All | Black | Hispanic | White | Asian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayo High For Math, Science & TechnologyDarlington Magnet | 98.9% | 100% | 0% | 98% | 0% |
| Buist AcademyCharleston Magnet | 99.4% | 96.4% | 100% | 99.7% | 100% |
| Howe Hall AIMS ElementaryBerkeley Magnet | 95.9% | 94.3% | 0% | 96.6% | 100% |
| HCS Early College HighHorry Magnet | 98.1% | 93.8% | 100% | 100% | 0% |
| River Trail ElementaryYork 4 (Fort Mill) | 95.3% | 92.5% | 92.5% | 95.5% | 100% |
| East Link AcademyLimestone Charter Association Charter | 94.6% | 91.2% | 86.8% | 100% | 0% |
| Heritage ElementaryGreenville | 86.9% | 90.9% | 0% | 86.1% | — |
| Carlisle-Foster's Grove ElementarySpartanburg 2 | 79.9% | 89.7% | 0% | 78.9% | 0% |
| Starr ElementaryAnderson 3 | 87.1% | 88.9% | 0% | 88.4% | 0% |
| Fairfield Magnet for Math and ScienceFairfield Magnet | 90% | 88.4% | 0% | 0% | — |
Flags show magnet, charter, alternative and virtual schools. Some campuses — early college and specialized academies among them — also admit by application, and this page cannot yet identify all of them. Check with the district before assuming a school is open to your address.
The same measure at the other end of the range. In many of these schools every group is falling short, which points at the school rather than at the students in it.
| School | All | Black | Hispanic | White | Asian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina Department Of Juvenile JusticeSouth Carolina Department Of Juvenile Justice | 8.9% | 8.3% | — | 0% | — |
| SC Department Of Juvenile JusticeSC Department Of Juvenile Justice | 9.6% | 9.1% | — | 0% | — |
| Palmetto Achievement Center for Excellence AcademySC Public Charter District Charter | 27% | 12% | 0% | 40.2% | 0% |
| SC School For The Deaf And The BlindSC School For The Deaf And The Blind | 17.5% | 16.1% | 0% | 14.8% | 0% |
| South Carolina Preparatory AcademyLimestone Charter Association Charter | 36.7% | 19% | 0% | 38.8% | 0% |
| Odyssey Online LearningCharter Institute at Erskine Charter | 32% | 19.5% | 0% | 36.6% | 0% |
| Williston-Elko HighBarnwell 01 | 34.9% | 22.4% | 0% | 60% | 0% |
| McBee HighChesterfield | 48.7% | 23.3% | 26.1% | 57.9% | — |
| Carolus Online AcademySC Public Charter District Charter | 26.5% | 23.6% | 23.4% | 29.3% | 0% |
| Philip Simmons HighBerkeley | 59.7% | 23.9% | 0% | 72.4% | 0% |
In Berkeley, Howe Hall AIMS Elementary reports 94.3% of Black students meeting the standard. Philip Simmons High, in the same district, reports 23.9%. That is a 70.4-point spread across 43 schools under one administration, serving one community, funded by one tax base — the clearest illustration of why address matters more than it should.
Districts with at least ten schools reporting Black student results, by school count. The percentage shown is the average across that district's schools for Black students.