Summary:
Zip code 29505 in Florence, SC is home to one middle school, Southside Middle, which serves grades 6-8 and enrolls 1,138 students within the Florence 01 school district.
For parents considering Southside Middle, the most striking feature is its exceptional Algebra 1 performance, with a perfect 100% proficiency rate on the EOCEP exam—far surpassing both the district (89.55%) and state (73.95%) averages. However, this advanced math success contrasts sharply with general math proficiency, which sits at just 32.9% for 6th grade and 31.2% for 7th grade. Notably, 8th-grade math jumps to 42.7%, likely reflecting the school's strategy of channeling stronger students into Algebra 1. In English Language Arts, the school is competitive with district averages but trails the state, with 8th grade showing the strongest performance at 54.6% proficiency. The school has shown meaningful year-over-year improvement in 8th grade, with ELA rising 6.5 points and math rising 7.8 points from the previous year.
One area of concern is chronic absenteeism, which stands at 29.0%—significantly higher than the state average of 22.3% and the district's 26.4%. This may be a key factor in the school's modest overall state ranking, which has remained stable in the 46-47th percentile over three years. On a positive note, the school is well-resourced with a favorable 14.2:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $12,200. Overall, Southside Middle presents a paradoxical profile: it excels at developing top math students while struggling to bring the broader population to proficiency, though the recent 8th-grade gains suggest positive momentum worth watching.
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