Summary
Cherokee Charter Academy in Gaffney, SC, is a public charter school serving 633 students in grades PK through 9 under the Charter Institute at Erskine, operating in a high-poverty area where 99.4% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Despite these challenges, the school shows notable strengths in English Language Arts (ELA), consistently outperforming its district across most grade levels—for example, 65.3% of 4th graders and 68.0% of 7th graders are proficient in ELA, compared to district averages of 56.4% and 62.1%, respectively. The school also excels on the English 2 EOCEP exam, with 86.96% proficiency, beating both district and state averages. Early-grade math is another bright spot: 63.7% of 3rd graders and 58.7% of 4th graders are proficient, far exceeding district rates. However, math performance declines sharply in upper grades, dropping to 39.4% proficiency by 8th grade, below the state average. Science results are mixed, with 6th grade exceeding state averages but 4th grade falling short.
The most pressing concern is chronic absenteeism, which has surged to 34.8%—more than three times the district average of 11.5% and well above the state's 22.3%. This rate has climbed steadily from 22.1% in 2021-2022, and it likely undermines the school's potential. By comparison, the only nearby school, Cedar Springs Academy, a tiny alternative school with just 42 students, has a chronic absenteeism rate of only 7.5%, showing this is not a regional issue. Cherokee also faces resource strain, with its student-teacher ratio rising from 9.6 to 15:1 in two years. While per-student spending is high at $14,475, the uneven outcomes—especially in upper-grade math and science—suggest that addressing attendance and supporting older students will be critical to sustaining the school's early successes.
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