Summary:
The city of Seabrook, South Carolina is home to three schools serving grades K-12: Whale Branch Early College High, Whale Branch Elementary, and Whale Branch Middle. These schools are part of the Beaufort 01 school district and serve a high-need student population, with all three schools reporting a 100% free/reduced lunch rate.
Whale Branch Early College High stands out as the strongest performer, with an 85.4% graduation rate and relatively high test scores on end-of-course exams. In contrast, Whale Branch Elementary and Whale Branch Middle struggle to meet district and state averages on SC READY assessments, particularly in mathematics. All three schools face high chronic absenteeism rates of 22.5%, which may contribute to the lower academic performance at the elementary and middle school levels.
Despite the differences in academic performance, all three schools maintain relatively small class sizes, with student-teacher ratios ranging from 6.6 at Whale Branch Middle to 9.6 at Whale Branch Early College High. However, the high spending per student at Whale Branch Elementary ($27,926) does not necessarily translate to better academic outcomes, suggesting that additional factors beyond funding and class size may be influencing student performance in this area.
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