Summary:
Zip code 29039 (Cordova, SC) is home to just one high school, Edisto High, which serves grades 9-12 with 614 students in the Orangeburg school district.
For parents considering this area, Edisto High offers some notable structural advantages but faces significant academic challenges. The school spends a substantial $18,528 per student and maintains a favorable 12.6:1 student-teacher ratio, suggesting smaller class sizes and potentially more individualized attention. The graduation rate stands at 84.1%, which beats the district's 80.4% but trails the state's 86.7%. The dropout rate is a bright spot at just 1.6%, better than both district and state averages. However, academic proficiency lags behind state benchmarks across all subjects. In Algebra 1, only 50% of students are proficient versus 64.6% statewide; English 1 proficiency is 40.6% compared to 60.9% statewide; and U.S. History proficiency is 47.4% versus 62.6% statewide. The school does outperform its district in every subject, by margins of 3 to 14 percentage points, making it a relative bright spot within a district ranked 63rd out of 75 in South Carolina.
The most pressing concern is chronic absenteeism, which affects 40.7% of students—nearly double the state rate of 22.3%. This likely explains why high spending and low class sizes don't translate into better test scores. There are also notable trends to watch: Algebra 1 proficiency dropped dramatically by 21.6 points year-over-year, while U.S. History improved by 11 points. The school's state ranking has remained in the bottom 15% (13th percentile, 1-star rating) for three consecutive years. Parents should weigh the school's strong resources and district outperformance against its below-average academic results and attendance crisis, which represents the clearest opportunity for improvement.
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