Summary:
Zip code 29466 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is served by two highly ranked middle schools—Thomas C. Cario Middle and Laing Middle—both part of the Charleston 01 district and both serving grades 6-8 with a combined enrollment of about 2,091 students.
Both schools are elite by state standards, ranking in the top 5% of all South Carolina middle schools. Thomas C. Cario Middle is the academic powerhouse, ranking 7th in the state (98th percentile) and leading in nearly every subject. For example, in 6th-grade math, Cario posts an 84.2% proficiency rate versus Laing’s 73.3%, and in 6th-grade ELA, Cario hits 90.1% compared to Laing’s 85.6%. Laing Middle is the consistent high achiever, ranking 16th (95th percentile) and actually matching or exceeding Cario in Algebra 1, where both schools achieve near-perfect proficiency (100% for Laing, 99.59% for Cario). Laing also shines with a lower chronic absenteeism rate of 7.0% versus Cario’s 10.8%, both far below the state average of 22.3%.
Families in this zip code have no weak option—both schools dramatically outperform state averages across all subjects and grade levels. Notably, both schools showed strong year-over-year improvement in 8th-grade math, with Laing jumping 11.6 points to 76.3% and Cario rising 5.1 points to 76.4%. Interestingly, Laing spends more per student ($17,706 vs. $16,294) yet trails slightly in most metrics, suggesting factors beyond spending drive the differences. While both schools have seen a modest ranking dip from their 2023-2024 peaks (Cario from 3rd to 7th, Laing from 7th to 16th), they remain firmly in the 5-star tier, making this one of the strongest middle school markets in South Carolina.
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