Summary:
Zip code 29414 in Charleston, SC is served by a single middle school, C. E. Williams Middle School for Creative and Scientific Art, which enrolls 1,299 students across grades 6 through 8 within the Charleston 01 school district.
For parents considering this school, the standout feature is its exceptional Algebra 1 performance, with a 97.06% pass rate on the EOCEP exam—far surpassing the district's 82.31% and the state's 73.95%. This suggests that advanced math students are exceptionally well-prepared. However, overall math proficiency on SC READY assessments is a clear weakness, particularly in 7th and 8th grades, where the school trails the state average by 4.6 and 7.6 percentage points, respectively, and lags the district by more than 16 points. English Language Arts performance is more mixed: 6th graders exceed the state average (58.7% vs. 56.3%), but 7th and 8th graders fall below both district and state benchmarks. There is also a noticeable decline in proficiency as students advance through grades—ELA drops from 58.7% in 6th grade to 50.5% in 8th grade, and math drops from 44.9% to 36.6%—which may indicate growing academic challenges or other factors.
The school maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13.7:1 and spends a substantial $29,210 per student, yet its overall state ranking sits at the 53rd percentile (159th of 335 schools), suggesting the high spending does not translate into top-tier results. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at 24.0%, exceeding both district (20.5%) and state (22.3%) rates, which may contribute to the declining scores. On a positive note, math scores improved across all grades compared to the previous year, though the school's ranking slipped slightly, indicating other schools are improving faster. Overall, this is a large, specialized school with a strong advanced math program but struggles with grade-level math proficiency and attendance, making it a solid but not outstanding choice within a highly ranked district.
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