Summary:
The city of Clover, South Carolina, is served by two middle schools—Oakridge Middle and Clover Middle—both covering grades 6-8 within the highly rated York 02 district, which ranks in the 97th percentile statewide.
For parents, the standout choice is Oakridge Middle, which consistently earns a 5-star rating and ranks in the top 10% of South Carolina middle schools. It outperforms Clover Middle in nearly every subject and grade level. For example, in 7th grade math, Oakridge posts a 70.6% proficiency rate versus Clover Middle’s 51.8%—an 18.8-point gap. Oakridge also leads in English Language Arts across all grades, with 7th grade scores at 79.5% compared to Clover Middle’s 64.2%. Both schools exceed state averages in most areas, but Oakridge does so by a much wider margin. A key difference is chronic absenteeism: Oakridge’s rate is just 10.1%, while Clover Middle’s is 22.5%—matching the state average. Notably, Clover Middle actually spends slightly more per student ($13,566 vs. $12,964) and has a marginally better student-teacher ratio, yet Oakridge achieves far stronger results, suggesting factors like attendance and school culture drive the gap.
Despite the disparity, both schools shine in advanced math. On the Algebra 1 EOCEP, Oakridge (98.36%) and Clover Middle (97.95%) both far exceed the district (86.97%) and state (73.95%) averages. Clover Middle also showed significant year-over-year improvement in 7th and 8th grade math, jumping 13.3 and 11.8 points respectively. However, Oakridge saw an 11.6-point decline in 8th grade ELA, which may reflect a cohort effect. For parents, the takeaway is clear: Oakridge offers elite, consistent academics, while Clover Middle is a solid, above-average option—especially for advanced math—but with room to grow in attendance and core subject proficiency.
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