Best Public Schools in Saluda, SC

The Saluda 01 school district in Saluda, South Carolina, serves approximately 2,525 students across five schools (PK-12), including three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, and currently ranks in the bottom quartile of districts statewide with a 1-star rating.

For parents, the standout school in this area is clearly Hollywood Elementary, which earns a 3-star rating and outperforms state averages in 4th grade ELA (71% vs. 65.4%), math (63.7% vs. 52.3%), and science (65.2% vs. 51.6%). In stark contrast, Saluda Elementary struggles significantly, ranking in the 4th percentile statewide with a 0-star rating and showing a steady decline over the past three years. The gap between these two schools serving the same grade levels is extraordinary—in 4th grade math, Hollywood students achieve 63.7% proficiency while Saluda Elementary students achieve just 21.4%, a 42-point difference. Saluda Middle offers a bright spot in mathematics, with 100% proficiency in Algebra 1 on the EOCEP exam, though this likely reflects an accelerated subset of students rather than the broader school population. Saluda High shows relative strength in English (74.46% proficiency in English 2) and boasts a strong 92.8% graduation rate, but struggles significantly in Algebra 1 (37.99% vs. 73.95% state) and U.S. History (42.86% vs. 62.57% state).

District-wide, the most pressing challenge is mathematics, with proficiency gaps of roughly 20 percentage points below state averages across grades 3-8. However, the district outperforms the state in chronic absenteeism (16.7% vs. 22.3%) and dropout rates (1.8% vs. 2.1%), suggesting attendance is not the primary driver of academic struggles. Resource allocation does not explain performance differences—Hollywood Elementary spends the most per student ($13,545) but Saluda Primary spends nearly as much ($13,141) with no test data available. The lack of assessment data for Saluda Primary (PK-2) leaves a critical gap in understanding whether students enter 3rd grade already behind or if the decline occurs during grades 3-5. Overall, this district offers a mixed picture: exceptional performance at Hollywood Elementary, concerning declines at Saluda Elementary, and subject-specific strengths at the secondary level that provide foundations for improvement.