Summary:
Zip code 29138 in Saluda, South Carolina, is served by three elementary schools within the Saluda 01 district, which together educate roughly 1,274 students across pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
For parents, the most important takeaway is the stark contrast between the two schools that serve grades 3-5. Hollywood Elementary is the clear academic leader, earning a 3-star rating and ranking in the 59th percentile statewide. It actually beats the state average in several 4th-grade subjects, including English Language Arts (71.0% vs. 65.4%), math (63.7% vs. 52.3%), and science (65.2% vs. 51.6%). In contrast, Saluda Elementary ranks in the bottom 4% of all South Carolina elementary schools with a 0-star rating, and its state ranking has fallen for three consecutive years. The gap is dramatic: in 4th-grade math, Hollywood's proficiency rate is nearly three times higher than Saluda Elementary's (63.7% vs. 21.4%). Saluda Primary, which serves PK-2, has no standardized test data, but it is the largest school with 474 students.
Both Hollywood and Saluda Elementary draw students from the same primary school, which suggests school-level factors are driving the performance gap. Notably, Saluda Elementary receives about $2,000 less per student ($11,570 vs. $13,545) than Hollywood. Chronic absenteeism is below the state average (22.3%) at all three schools, ranging from 15.6% to 18.5%, so attendance does not explain the achievement differences. While the district overall holds a 1-star rating, Hollywood Elementary proves that high performance is possible even in a lower-ranked district. Parents should weigh these significant academic disparities carefully when choosing between the two upper-elementary options.
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