Summary:
The city of Kingstree, South Carolina, is served by the Williamsburg 01 school district, which includes four schools—two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school—serving approximately 1,748 students across grades PK-12.
For parents, the standout story here is Kingstree High, which has shown remarkable improvement, jumping from the 25th to the 54th percentile in state rankings. It now outperforms the state average in Algebra 1 (82.5% proficiency) and English 2 (87.5% proficiency), and its graduation rate of 82.6% is close to the state's 86.7%. In contrast, Kenneth Gardner Leadership Academy is the district's most struggling school, ranking in the 13th percentile with critically low science proficiency (18.1% vs. 51.6% state) and math scores hovering between 32-37%. Kingstree Middle Magnet falls in the middle, with 6th-grade math proficiency at just 15% (state: 40.9%), though its 7th and 8th-grade English scores approach state averages. W.M. Anderson Primary serves the youngest students (PK-2) and once ranked in the 63rd percentile, but now faces the district's highest chronic absenteeism rate at 45.6%.
The most pressing district-wide issue is chronic absenteeism, with every school exceeding the state rate of 22.3%—the district average is 35.6%. This likely drives the significant academic gaps, especially in middle school math, where proficiency drops dramatically from elementary levels. Science is another hidden emergency, with gaps exceeding 30 points in some grades. Interestingly, the district spends generously ($16,578-$18,605 per student) with low student-teacher ratios, yet outcomes remain below state benchmarks. The high school's success, despite its own 36.9% absenteeism rate, suggests that motivated attending students can achieve strong results, offering a potential model for improvement across the district.
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