Summary:
In zip code 29401, there is just one elementary school, Memminger Elementary, serving grades PK through 5 in the historic downtown area of Charleston, SC, as part of the Charleston 01 school district.
For parents considering Memminger Elementary, the school offers a notably small student-teacher ratio of 11.8:1 and spends a very high $26,342 per student, which suggests smaller class sizes and significant resources. However, academic performance is mixed. In the most recent school year, 3rd-grade proficiency in both ELA and Math was 53%, which is below the district average of about 68% but closer to state averages. The school shows a clear pattern of decline in upper grades: 5th-grade ELA proficiency drops to 37.1% and Math to 31.5%, both well below district and state levels. This "5th-grade slide" is consistent across two years of data and is a key area of concern. On a positive note, 4th-grade Science saw a dramatic improvement, jumping from 28.6% to 52.8% proficiency year-over-year, now matching the state average. Chronic absenteeism at 19.8% is slightly better than both the district (20.5%) and state (22.3%) rates.
Despite below-average test scores, Memminger Elementary's state ranking has improved for two consecutive years, moving from the 18th percentile to the 34th percentile, indicating it is making progress faster than many other South Carolina schools. The school is strongest in early grades and weakest in upper grades, so parents of older students may want to investigate the 4th and 5th-grade curriculum and support systems. Overall, this is a school with substantial financial investment and small classes, but families should weigh the strong early-grade performance and improving trajectory against the significant drop-off in upper-grade achievement.
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