Summary:
Zip code 29536 in Dillon, South Carolina, is served by a single high school, Dillon High, which enrolls 804 students in grades 9-12 and is part of the Dillon 04 school district.
For parents considering this area, the most important takeaway is that Dillon High is facing serious, multi-year challenges. The school’s state ranking has declined for three straight years, falling from the 11th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 6th percentile in 2025-2026, and it has lost its star rating. Academically, proficiency rates are well below state averages in core subjects. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 32% of students were proficient in English 1 and U.S. History, compared to roughly 61-62% statewide—a gap of nearly 30 percentage points. Algebra 1 proficiency was also 20 points behind the state. The one bright spot is English 2, where proficiency reached 79%, suggesting that students who persist into their second year of English show significant improvement.
Beyond test scores, attendance and retention are major red flags. Chronic absenteeism affects 36.2% of students—62% higher than the state average—and the dropout rate of 5.6% is nearly triple the state’s 2.1%. The graduation rate of 84.5% trails the state by 2.2 points. The school spends $12,443 per student with a 16.4:1 student-teacher ratio, yet performance continues to slide, indicating that resources alone aren’t solving the problem. The entire Dillon 04 district ranks in the bottom 8% of South Carolina districts, so these issues are systemic. For families, this means the school’s strengths—like English 2 gains—are overshadowed by persistent attendance and early-high-school achievement gaps that require urgent, targeted intervention.
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