Best Public Schools in Zip Code 29670

Zip code 29670, serving the Pendleton, South Carolina area, is home to four schools within the highly-rated Anderson 04 school district (ranked 4th out of 75 districts statewide with a 5-star rating), including three elementary schools and one middle school, with no high schools in the immediate area.

Families in this area have access to two exceptional elementary options. La France Elementary is the academic powerhouse, ranking 34th out of 649 South Carolina elementary schools (95th percentile, 5 stars) with standout 6th grade math proficiency at 86.9%—more than double the state average—and the lowest chronic absenteeism rate in the area at just 8.3%. Mt. Lebanon Elementary is the consistency champion, ranking 58th (91st percentile, 5 stars) with outstanding ELA scores exceeding 83% proficiency across 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Both schools feed into Riverside Middle, which ranks 37th out of 335 middle schools (89th percentile, 4 stars) and boasts a near-perfect Algebra 1 EOCEP score of 99.99% proficiency. However, Pendleton Elementary trails significantly, ranking 209th (68th percentile, 3 stars), with a notable 35.9 percentage point gap in 4th grade math proficiency compared to La France (46.2% vs. 82.1%).

The most striking finding is the performance disparity between the top elementary schools and Pendleton, despite Pendleton having the highest per-student spending ($14,569 vs. La France's $14,091). This suggests school culture and instructional quality matter more than funding alone. Encouragingly, Pendleton shows strong improvement in 3rd grade ELA (65.8% to 77.2% year-over-year), indicating effective early-grade interventions. All four schools significantly outperform the state's 22.3% chronic absenteeism rate, with rates ranging from 8.3% to 14.6%. Science proficiency is a hidden strength across the top schools, with La France and Mt. Lebanon both exceeding 71% in 4th grade science. The district's main challenge appears to be a "middle school dip" in math, as Riverside's standard math scores (64.6-66.9%) are lower than what the top elementary feeders' 6th grade scores would predict, suggesting an area for continued district focus.