Middle Schools in Kershaw 01

The four middle schools in the Kershaw 01 district serve grades 6-8 and range in size from 408 to 844 students, with the district itself ranking in the 64th percentile statewide.

If you are looking at schools in this area, Lugoff-Elgin Middle is the clear standout. It is the only school in the district with a 4-star rating, ranking 79th in the state, and it has improved its position every year for the past three years. Its test scores are well above the district and state averages in nearly every subject and grade level, particularly in 8th-grade English (71.1% proficient) and 8th-grade math (59.5% proficient). At the other end of the spectrum, North Central Middle is a school of concern. It has the lowest ranking in the district (211th), a declining three-year trend, and by far the highest chronic absenteeism rate at 32.2%. Camden Middle and Leslie M. Stover Middle sit in the middle, both with 2-3 star ratings and rankings within 14 positions of each other, though Camden shows a slight upward trend while Stover is more stagnant.

Across the district, mathematics is the biggest challenge. Even at the best school, math proficiency lags well behind English and science, and at North Central, only 23.5% of 8th graders are proficient in math. Interestingly, all four schools post near-perfect scores on the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam, which suggests only the highest-performing students are being placed into that class. Chronic absenteeism also correlates with performance—North Central’s high rate aligns with its low scores—but spending and class size do not tell a simple story. North Central actually spends nearly as much per student as Lugoff-Elgin and has the smallest class sizes, yet achieves the worst results. This suggests that instructional quality and school culture are more important than raw resources. For parents, the takeaway is that Lugoff-Elgin Middle is the strongest choice academically, while the other three schools offer more mixed results, especially in math.