Summary:
Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, is a small community served by just two schools—Calhoun Falls Charter School (grades 6-12, 159 students) and John C. Calhoun Elementary (grades PK-5, 119 students)—which together educate roughly 278 students across two different districts: the Charter Institute at Erskine and Abbeville 60.
For parents, the most striking difference between the two schools is spending versus results. John C. Calhoun Elementary spends a remarkable $24,135 per student—39% more than the charter’s $17,366—yet its 4th grade math proficiency (33.3%) is nearly identical to the charter’s 7th grade math (36.3%). The elementary school does shine in 5th grade, with 75% ELA and 50% math proficiency, both exceeding state averages, and it has impressively low chronic absenteeism at 12.4% (state: 22.3%). However, its overall ranking has plummeted from the 67th percentile to the 28th percentile in just two years, raising questions about whether that high spending is being used effectively. Meanwhile, Calhoun Falls Charter School achieves strong 7th grade ELA (63.6%, above state) and a solid 76% proficiency on English 2, with a low 1.1% dropout rate and an 83.9% graduation rate.
The most urgent concern is the charter’s 8th grade math crisis: only 4.8% of students are proficient, a catastrophic drop from 20.9% the prior year and far below the state’s 44.2%. This is part of a broader “middle school cliff,” where 7th to 8th grade ELA falls from 63.6% to 33.4% and math from 36.3% to 4.8%. Both schools also show extreme year-over-year volatility—the charter’s 7th grade math jumped 303% in one year—likely due to very small class sizes where individual cohorts skew results. On a positive note, both schools beat the state average for chronic absenteeism, so attendance isn’t the main driver of low scores. The priority should be investigating the 8th grade math collapse and why the elementary’s high spending isn’t yielding stronger 4th grade results.
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