Summary:
Zip code 29591 in Scranton, South Carolina, is served by a single school, Scranton Elementary, a small rural school for grades PK through 6 with 389 students.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Scranton Elementary is a school of stark contrasts. It consistently outperforms its home district, Florence 03, which is rated in the bottom quarter of South Carolina districts. The school’s standout feature is its remarkable 6th grade, which dramatically exceeds state averages in English Language Arts (76.5% proficient vs. 56.3% state), math (43.1% vs. 40.9%), and science (70.6% vs. 51.9%). This represents a massive year-over-year improvement, suggesting a highly effective program at that level. However, this excellence does not extend to the lower grades. In 3rd through 5th grade, proficiency rates in both ELA and math lag behind state averages, with 5th grade math being a particular concern at just 22.4% proficient compared to the 49.1% state average. The school also shows significant year-to-year score volatility, which is common in small schools where a single cohort of students can have an outsized impact.
Despite these academic challenges, the school maintains a solid 2-star rating and has reasonable resources, spending $13,464 per student with a 13.8:1 student-teacher ratio. Chronic absenteeism at 19.6% is actually better than both the district and state averages. The clear pattern here is that the middle grades (3rd-5th) struggle while 6th grade excels, which points to a potential model for reform that could be applied school-wide. For parents, this means the school offers a strong upper-grade experience but requires close attention to math instruction in the earlier grades. The dramatic success in 6th grade is a promising sign that the school can achieve high performance, and replicating that success in the lower grades is the most urgent priority for improvement.
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