Summary:
Zip code 29624 in Anderson, South Carolina, is home to one middle school, Southwood Academy for the Arts, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 409 students within the Anderson 05 school district.
Southwood Academy for the Arts is an elite performer, consistently ranking in the top 5% of all South Carolina middle schools for three consecutive years, including a 13th-place finish out of 335 schools in 2025-2026. The school dramatically outperforms both its district and state averages in every subject and grade level. In English Language Arts, proficiency rates range from 85.7% in 6th grade to 89.6% in 8th grade, compared to state averages in the high 50s. Mathematics performance is even more striking, with 8th-grade proficiency at 85.4%—a 41.2 percentage-point advantage over the state average. The school also achieves a near-perfect 99.99% proficiency rate on the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam, indicating an exceptionally strong advanced math pathway.
Beyond test scores, the school benefits from favorable operational conditions. With a student-teacher ratio of 11.9:1 and per-student spending of $20,140, the school is well-resourced to support individualized instruction. Chronic absenteeism stands at just 16.0%, well below the district rate of 24.8% and state rate of 22.3%, which likely contributes to consistent academic success. As an arts-focused academy, the school demonstrates that specialized programming can coexist with rigorous academics, and it stands out even within its own high-performing 4-star district. For parents, this school offers a proven track record of excellence, strong resource investment, and a supportive learning environment that delivers outstanding outcomes for its students.
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