Summary:
Zip code 29204 in Columbia, SC is home to two high schools—A. C. Flora High and C. A. Johnson High—both part of the Richland 01 school district, which ranks in the bottom third of South Carolina districts.
These two schools sit at opposite ends of the educational spectrum. A. C. Flora High is the clear academic leader, serving about 1,328 students with a 3-star rating and a state ranking in the 63rd percentile. It outperforms its district in English 1 (60% vs. 46%), English 2 (86% vs. 82%), and U.S. History (67% vs. 53%), and its graduation rate of 89.4% beats both the district (84.1%) and state (86.7%) averages. Chronic absenteeism at 19.2% is also better than the state norm. In contrast, C. A. Johnson High is a much smaller school (344 students) with a 1-star rating and an 11th percentile ranking. Its graduation rate is just 73%, its dropout rate is 8.1% (nearly four times the state average), and a staggering 51.2% of students are chronically absent—more than double the state rate. Despite spending nearly double per student ($29,536 vs. $16,591) and having a much lower student-teacher ratio (9:1 vs. 15.6:1), C. A. Johnson trails A. C. Flora in nearly every academic subject.
One notable exception is Algebra 1, where C. A. Johnson actually outperformed A. C. Flora (67% vs. 42% in 2024-25), though this may reflect differences in which students take the course. Both schools show relative strength in English 2, with A. C. Flora exceeding the state average and C. A. Johnson coming close. The ranking trends also diverge sharply: A. C. Flora has remained stable in the 63rd-83rd percentile range, while C. A. Johnson has fluctuated wildly between the 8th and 25th percentiles. For parents, the choice is stark—A. C. Flora offers consistent academics, strong graduation rates, and manageable attendance issues, while C. A. Johnson faces deep challenges where addressing chronic absenteeism appears to be the most critical first step toward improvement.
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