Summary:
Zip code 29150 in Sumter, South Carolina, is served by two public middle schools, Alice Drive Middle and Bates Middle, both part of the Sumter 01 school district, which ranks in the bottom 11th percentile statewide.
For parents comparing the two schools, Alice Drive Middle is the stronger performer overall. It holds a 2-star rating and ranks 212nd out of 335 schools, while Bates Middle has a 1-star rating and ranks 285th. Alice Drive posts higher proficiency rates in nearly every subject and grade level—for example, 59.4% of its 7th graders are proficient in ELA versus 41.8% at Bates, and in 6th-grade science, Alice Drive's 48.4% proficiency rate is double Bates' 24.5%. Alice Drive is also the larger school with 783 students compared to Bates' 481. Interestingly, Bates spends more per student ($14,974 vs. $12,758) and has a lower student-teacher ratio (13.1 vs. 16.6), yet this does not translate into better test scores, suggesting that factors beyond funding and class size are driving the achievement gap.
Both schools share a critical challenge: chronic absenteeism is extremely high, with about one in three students at each school missing significant school time (34.5% at Alice Drive and 33.8% at Bates), well above the state average of 22.3%. However, there is a notable bright spot in advanced math—both schools achieve near-perfect scores on the Algebra 1 EOCEP exam (100% at Alice Drive and 96.55% at Bates), far exceeding the state average of 73.95%. This shows that while general math proficiency is low, the district is successfully accelerating its top math students. Overall, while Alice Drive is the clear standout in this zip code, both schools face systemic challenges tied to the district's low ranking, and parents should weigh the academic differences alongside the shared attendance concerns.
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