Summary:
Zip code 29069 is home to a single elementary school, Lamar-Spaulding Elementary, which serves grades PK through 5 and enrolls 496 students in the Darlington 01 school district.
For parents considering this area, Lamar-Spaulding Elementary presents a mixed picture. The school has a solid student-teacher ratio of 16:1 and spends a substantial $15,467 per student, which is a significant investment in education. A clear positive is its chronic absenteeism rate of 18.6%, which is notably better than both the district (23.4%) and state (22.3%) averages, suggesting strong student engagement and family involvement. However, the school's overall state ranking has slipped from the 51st percentile (3 stars) in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years to the 45th percentile (2 stars) for 2025-2026. This decline is driven by a sharp drop in test scores across most grades and subjects from one year to the next. For example, 3rd-grade English Language Arts proficiency fell from 63% to 44.8%, and 5th-grade Math plummeted from 48.1% to 31.9%.
The most striking feature is a "4th-grade peak." In the 2025-2026 school year, 4th graders at Lamar-Spaulding Elementary significantly outperformed both the district and state in ELA (73.4% vs. 62.4% district and 65.4% state) and Math (64.5% vs. 50.5% district and 52.3% state). This suggests a particularly effective grade-level team. Conversely, 5th-grade Math is a major weakness, with only 31.9% proficiency compared to 41.4% in the district and 49.1% statewide. While the school beats its district in several 4th-grade subjects, the overall inconsistency across grades—and the dramatic year-over-year decline—indicates that the high per-student spending is not yet translating into reliable, school-wide academic success.
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