Summary:
New Zion, South Carolina, is served by a single public elementary school, Walker-Gamble Elementary, which educates students from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade within the Clarendon 06 school district.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Walker-Gamble Elementary is a strong performer locally, consistently beating its district average in every subject and grade level tested. In the most recent school year, 5th-grade math proficiency was 60.7%, which was 22.4 percentage points higher than the district's 38.3%. The school also posts solid scores in English Language Arts, with 5th graders reaching 71.9% proficiency. However, the school's state ranking has slipped for three straight years, falling from 108th (83rd percentile) to 200th (69th percentile) out of 649 schools. This means that while the school is doing well compared to its immediate neighbors, other schools across South Carolina are improving at a faster pace. The school spends a substantial $17,563 per student, which is a high level of investment, and maintains a 16:1 student-teacher ratio with an enrollment of 547 students.
One area of concern is chronic absenteeism, which sits at 22.8%—better than the district's 29.4% but slightly above the state average of 22.3%. This means nearly one in four students is missing significant instructional time, which likely contributes to inconsistent test scores. A clear pattern emerges in math, where 5th-grade proficiency is consistently the lowest of all grades and subjects, suggesting a need for targeted support as students tackle more complex concepts. There was also a dramatic 12-point swing in 4th-grade math, jumping from 52.2% to 64.5% in one year, which highlights the variability that can occur with small class sizes. Overall, Walker-Gamble Elementary offers a solid education relative to its district, but parents should be aware of the attendance challenges and the school's declining state ranking when evaluating long-term academic trends.
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