Best Elementary Schools in South Carolina

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Find the best South Carolina elementary schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish South Carolina test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the SC READY test scores by the South Carolina Department of Education. The most recent update was on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 640)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
521	Arden Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1300 Ashley Street	Columbia	29203	Richland County	Richland 01	No	No	No	Yes	(803) 735-3400	216	19	11.3		2 (0.9%)	126 (58.3%)	73 (33.8%)	4 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (5.1%)	$24,750	$2,750	$1,452	$4,202	$17,462	$3,087	$20,548	21.3	18.4	539	18		450336000907
522	St. James-Gaillard Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	1555 Gardensgate Road	Eutawville	29048	Orangeburg County	Orangeburg	No	No	No	Yes	(803) 492-7927	211	16	13.1		23 (10.9%)	169 (80.1%)	9 (4.3%)	3 (1.4%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (2.4%)	$15,899	$1,363	$1,160	$2,523	$11,691	$1,685	$13,376	21.3	24.5	485	37		450391001290
523	Whittaker Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	790 Whittaker Parkway	Orangeburg	29115	Orangeburg County	Orangeburg	No	No	No	Yes	(803) 534-6559	325	21	15.4		7 (2.2%)	289 (88.9%)	22 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.8%)	$14,485	$1,758	$1,059	$2,816	$9,720	$1,948	$11,668	21.1	25.7	478	45		450391000869
524	Polo Road Elementary	Public, Magnet	PK, KG-5	1250 Polo Road	Columbia	29223	Richland County	Richland 02	No	Yes	No	No	(803) 419-2226	665	50	13.2		39 (5.9%)	345 (51.9%)	217 (32.6%)	15 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	48 (7.2%)	$15,464	$1,280	$1,131	$2,411	$11,315	$1,738	$13,053	21.1	19.9	524			450339001076
525	Bells Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	12088 Bells Highway	Ruffin	29475	Colleton County	Colleton 01	No	No	No	Yes	(843) 782-0012	249	21	11.8		112 (45.0%)	103 (41.4%)	24 (9.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.6%)	$18,199	$2,635	$2,047	$4,682	$11,181	$2,337	$13,518	20.8	12	578	53		450183000332
526	Thomas E. Kerns Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	6650 Frontage Road at White Ho	Greenville	29605	Greenville County	Greenville 01	No	No	No	Yes	(864) 355-1300	522	35	14.7		41 (7.9%)	211 (40.4%)	243 (46.6%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.4%)	4 (0.8%)	20 (3.8%)	$15,816	$3,242	$901	$4,143	$10,775	$898	$11,673	20.8	18.8	532	6		450231001035
527	Cyril B. Busbee Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	20 A.L. Corbett Circle	Wagener	29164	Aiken County	Aiken 01	No	No	No	Yes	(803) 564-1000	467	34	13.7		224 (48.0%)	154 (33.0%)	35 (7.5%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	49 (10.5%)	$13,254	$806	$1,233	$2,038	$10,345	$870	$11,216	20.5	19.8	525	2		450072001191
528	J. L. Cain Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	607 First Street	Darlington	29532	Darlington County	Darlington 01	No	No	No	Yes	(843) 398-2450	533	43	12.3		88 (16.5%)	383 (71.9%)	18 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (8.1%)	$14,930	$1,660	$1,294	$2,953	$10,562	$1,415	$11,976	20.5	18.4	538	10		450186001749
529	Forest Heights Elementary	Public	PK, KG-5	2500 Blue Ridge Terrace	Columbia	29203	Richland County	Richland 01	No	No	No	Yes	(803) 691-3780	435	36	12		18 (4.1%)	314 (72.2%)	77 (17.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (6.0%)	$20,567	$2,644	$1,341	$3,985	$14,101	$2,481	$16,582	20.5	22.3	503	26		450336000649
530	GREEN Charter School Lowcountry	Public, Charter	K-8	8717 Old University Boulevard	N Charleston	29406	Charleston County	School Public Charter School District	Yes	No	No	No	(843) 501-7911	301	25	12		63 (20.9%)	189 (62.8%)	21 (7.0%)	5 (1.7%)	3 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (6.6%)	$10,284	$1,259	$329	$1,588	$5,321	$3,374	$8,696	20.1	22.9	496	34		450390101739

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for SC student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Disabled Students Gifted and Talented Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on SC READY English Language Arts, SC READY Mathematics, SC READY Science test scores released by the South Carolina Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on September 2, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the South Carolina Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the South Carolina Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the South Carolina Department of Education.