Summary:
Union, South Carolina, is served by a single middle school, Sims Middle, which educates students in grades 6 through 8 and has an enrollment of 606 students within the Union 01 school district.
For parents considering Sims Middle, the most important takeaway is that the school faces significant academic challenges, with test scores in English Language Arts, math, and science running roughly 10 to 20 percentage points below state averages across most grade levels. For example, only 37.2% of 6th graders and 44.8% of 8th graders are proficient in ELA, compared to state rates of 56.3% and 58.9%, respectively. Math proficiency is similarly low, ranging from 31.1% to 35.3% by grade, versus state averages near 41-44%. The school’s overall ranking reflects this struggle, placing in the 26th percentile statewide with a 1-star rating for the 2025-2026 school year. A major red flag is the chronic absenteeism rate of 33.7%, which is 11 percentage points higher than both the district and state averages—a factor that likely contributes to the lower achievement levels.
However, there are some bright spots. The school posts a perfect 100% proficiency rate on the Algebra 1 EOCEP exam, far exceeding the district’s 67.5% and the state’s 74%, though this likely reflects a highly selective group of advanced students. Encouragingly, math scores improved across all grades from the prior year, with 7th grade jumping 8.7 points. The school also maintains a favorable 10.9:1 student-teacher ratio and spends $13,853 per student, which is above typical state levels. Despite this investment, outcomes remain below par, suggesting that addressing attendance and instructional effectiveness—rather than resources—may be the key to unlocking better results for students at Sims Middle.
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