Summary:
Zip code 29418 is home to just one middle school, Jerry Zucker Middle School of Science, a public school serving grades 6 through 8 with an enrollment of 513 students in the Charleston 01 school district.
For parents considering this area, the most important takeaway is that Jerry Zucker Middle School of Science is a 1-star school, ranking in the bottom 16% of South Carolina middle schools, despite being part of a 4-star district. The school spends a very high $21,951 per student and maintains a low student-teacher ratio of 8.8, yet academic proficiency rates lag far behind district and state averages. For example, 6th grade ELA proficiency is just 25% compared to the district's 65.5%, and 6th grade math proficiency is 26.2% versus the district's 53.6%. Science proficiency for 6th graders is only 24.3%, which is particularly notable given the school's science-focused name.
One bright spot is that math scores improved significantly across all grades from the previous year—6th grade jumped from 17.1% to 26.2% proficiency—suggesting targeted interventions may be working. However, chronic absenteeism is a serious concern, with 28.4% of students chronically absent, well above the district (20.5%) and state (22.3%) averages. This likely contributes to the school's persistent low performance. The combination of high spending, small class sizes, and low achievement points to challenges beyond resources, possibly related to student engagement and attendance. While the school is the only option in this zip code, parents should be aware of the significant gap between this school's performance and that of its surrounding district.
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