Florence 01

The Florence 01 school district in South Carolina serves about 15,000 students across 21 schools, including 14 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 3 high schools, and holds a 3-star rating that places it in the 61st percentile statewide.

For parents, the standout school in the district is Royall Elementary, which ranks in the 89th percentile and earns a 5-star rating. It dramatically outperforms other elementary schools—89% of its 3rd graders are proficient in ELA, compared to a district average that is 25 points lower, and its 5th grade ELA proficiency of 87.5% is 24 points above the district norm. Carver Elementary is another strong choice, ranking in the 74th percentile with excellent 5th grade math scores (65.3% proficient). Among middle schools, John W. Moore Middle is the strongest, with 100% of its Algebra 1 students scoring proficient on the EOCEP. At the high school level, Wilson High and South Florence High both post graduation rates above 93%, though Wilson's English 1 proficiency (47.77%) is a notable weakness. On the other end, Brockington Elementary Magnet is the district's most struggling school, ranking in the 5th percentile with only 16.9% of 4th graders proficient in math, while Wallace Gregg Elementary has also declined sharply to the 22nd percentile.

The district's biggest challenge is chronic absenteeism, which averages 26.4%—above the state's 22.3%. The lowest-performing schools, including Brockington (44.5%) and Wallace Gregg (42.0%), all have absenteeism rates above 30%, while top performers like Royall (15.1%) and Carver stay below 19%. There is also a clear performance cliff between elementary and middle school, with math proficiency dropping 5-15 points below state averages in most middle schools. Interestingly, spending does not predict success: North Vista Elementary spends the most per student ($21,826) yet ranks in the 39th percentile, while Royall achieves top-quartile results with $15,720 per student. All three high schools exceed the state graduation rate of 86.7%, and dropout rates are remarkably low (0.5-0.8%), suggesting that students who persist through the middle school challenges ultimately succeed.