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Olanta Elementary

Public, Magnet Grades PK, KG-6
465th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 640 South Carolina Elementary Schools
Better than 27% of South Carolina elementary schools
Summary

Olanta Elementary is a public magnet elementary school serving grades PK-6 in Olanta, South Carolina, with 199 students enrolled. The school is part of the Florence 03 school district, which is ranked 60 out of 75 districts in the state and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Olanta Elementary faces significant challenges in providing a high-quality education to its students. The school has consistently low academic performance, with test scores that are lower than the state and district averages across all grade levels and subject areas. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, the percentage of students proficient or better in ELA ranged from 44% to 53.6%, compared to the state average of 56% to 63.5%. In math, the proficiency rates ranged from 25% to 57.2%, compared to the state average of 39.4% to 56.3%. Additionally, Olanta Elementary's student subgroups, such as female students, male students, African American students, and low socioeconomic status students, all perform significantly worse than their peers statewide.

Despite the school's low performance, Olanta Elementary spends significantly more per student ($16,920 in 2023-2024) compared to the nearby schools in the Florence 03 district, which have per-student spending ranging from $13,067 to $14,967. The school also has a relatively low student-teacher ratio of 9.4 in 2023-2024, compared to the nearby schools in the district, which have ratios ranging from 12.6 to 24.2. However, the school's consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 21.6% to 29.5% over the past few years, may be a significant factor contributing to its low academic performance.

198
Students ?
11.6
Student/teacher ratio ?
$19,474
Per pupil spending ?
100%
Free/discounted lunch ?
 312 North Jones Road
       Olanta, SC  29114

(843) 396-4457

District: Florence 03


Students who attend Olanta Elementary usually attend:

Middle:    Ronald E. McNair Junior High
High:    Lake City High
Racial breakdown:

African American:
60.1%
White:
32.8%
Two or more races:
3.5%
more
 See top rated South Carolina elementary schools

 Compare Olanta Elementary to nearby elementary schools!
At a glance
Ranking trend: Improving — 19th percentile in 2015 → 27th in 2025
Strengths
Ranking is trending up — up 8 percentile points since 2015
Small classes — about 12 students per teacher
Worth a look
!Test scores below the South Carolina average (40% vs 54% meeting standards)
!High chronic absenteeism (33% vs 22% South Carolina)
!Science scores 20 pts below the South Carolina average
Students meeting standards (2024-2025) ?
This school40%
District avg40%
South Carolina avg54%
465th of 640
South Carolina public elementary schools ?
Bottom 27%▲ up 9 pts since 2015
From bottom 19% (2015) to bottom 27% (2025)
See the entire ranking list of South Carolina Elementary Schools →
SchoolDigger rating ?
3rd of 4Elementary Schools in the Florence 03
60th of 75Florence 03 among South Carolina districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankSouth Carolina percentileRating
202527.8465 of 64027.3%★☆☆☆☆
202425.5480 of 63824.8%★☆☆☆☆
202321.3523 of 64418.8%★☆☆☆☆
202221.8484 of 62522.6%★☆☆☆☆
20219.1590 of 6225.1%☆☆☆☆☆
201910.5599 of 6436.8%☆☆☆☆☆
201816.8538 of 62413.8%★☆☆☆☆
201719.4545 of 63914.7%★☆☆☆☆
201622.6509 of 61917.8%★☆☆☆☆
201525.8518 of 63818.8%★☆☆☆☆
201431.9471 of 63025.2%★☆☆☆☆
201328.5483 of 59919.4%★☆☆☆☆
201247.5353 of 59440.6%★★☆☆☆
201147.4355 of 59740.5%★★☆☆☆
201042.1373 of 58936.7%★★☆☆☆
200943.1361 of 58037.8%★★☆☆☆
200843.7363 of 57737.1%★★☆☆☆
200725.7471 of 56616.8%★☆☆☆☆
200645.1344 of 55938.5%★★☆☆☆
200527.9446 of 55719.9%★☆☆☆☆
200439.9373 of 55032.2%★★☆☆☆
200343.9335 of 54238.2%★★☆☆☆

African American

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankSouth Carolina percentileRating
202333.2282 of 39428.4%★☆☆☆☆
202230.6290 of 39326.2%★☆☆☆☆
202112.6341 of 3502.6%☆☆☆☆☆
201915.7395 of 4216.2%☆☆☆☆☆
201840.7260 of 41236.9%★★☆☆☆

Female

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankSouth Carolina percentileRating
20215.3549 of 5540.9%☆☆☆☆☆
201834.2394 of 57030.9%★★☆☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankSouth Carolina percentileRating
202537.7392 of 61336.1%★★☆☆☆
202429.9439 of 59926.7%★☆☆☆☆
202330.2454 of 60825.3%★☆☆☆☆
202227.1451 of 60024.8%★☆☆☆☆
202110.8550 of 5805.2%☆☆☆☆☆
201911.4567 of 6005.5%☆☆☆☆☆
201815.4545 of 5887.3%☆☆☆☆☆

Male

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankSouth Carolina percentileRating
20216.4545 of 5612.9%☆☆☆☆☆
How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)
Low Socio Economic Status (2025)36th percentile+9 vs school
African American (2023)28th percentile+10 vs school
Male (2021)3rd percentile~ school
Female (2021)1st percentile-4 vs school
By subject vs South Carolina (2024-2025) ?
English Language Arts50%-11 vs state
Mathematics35%-14 vs state
Science28%-20 vs state

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Frequently Asked Questions about Olanta Elementary

Olanta Elementary ranks 465th of 640 South Carolina elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 1 star out of 5.

Students who attend Olanta Elementary usually go on to attend:

Middle : Ronald E. McNair Junior High
High : Lake City High

Students at Olanta Elementary are 60% African American, 33% White, 4% Two or more races, 3% Hispanic.

In the 2024-25 school year, 198 students attended Olanta Elementary.


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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.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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