Summary:
Zip code 29479 is served by a single elementary school, St. Stephen Elementary, which educates 430 students in grades PK through 5 within the Berkeley 01 school district.
For parents considering this area, St. Stephen Elementary offers a notably favorable student-teacher ratio of 13:1 and substantial per-student spending of $17,800, indicating strong financial resources and smaller class sizes. However, academic performance generally trails both district and state averages. In the most recent 2025-2026 school year, English Language Arts proficiency ranged from 49% in 3rd grade to 60.4% in 4th grade, while math proficiency was more concerning, particularly in 5th grade where only 33.3% of students met proficiency standards. The school has shown a positive trajectory in state rankings, improving from a 1-star to a 2-star rating, though its current rank of 436th out of roughly 640 schools places it in the 33rd percentile. A significant challenge is chronic absenteeism, with 24.8% of students missing substantial school time—a rate higher than both the district (23.9%) and state (22.3%).
One bright spot is 4th grade math, where proficiency jumped an impressive 17.6 percentage points to 52.9%, exceeding the district average. This suggests targeted interventions can work. However, year-over-year data reveals declines in most subjects, with 5th grade math dropping 11 points and 3rd grade math falling 8.1 points. The school's ELA program appears relatively stronger than its math instruction, with scores closer to state benchmarks. While the high spending and low student-teacher ratio provide a solid foundation, the combination of rising absenteeism and declining upper-grade math scores are key areas for parents to monitor, especially for students approaching the middle school transition.
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