Summary:
Middle Schools in zip code 29697 are served by a single institution, Palmetto Middle, which educates students in grades 6 through 8 in Williamston, SC, within the highly-rated Anderson 01 school district.
Palmetto Middle is a standout performer, ranking 57th out of 335 middle schools statewide, placing it in the top 17% of schools in South Carolina. The school has shown consistent improvement in its state ranking over the past three years, moving from 67th to 57th. Academically, the school outperforms state averages in every subject and grade level tested. Its most impressive achievement is a 97.92% pass rate on the Algebra 1 End-of-Course exam, which far exceeds both the district (91.7%) and state (73.95%) averages. In SC READY testing, English Language Arts proficiency is strong and consistent, ranging from 68.1% in 6th grade to 71.8% in 7th grade, while math proficiency shows a clear upward trend from 45.1% in 6th grade to 63.1% in 8th grade. The school also invests heavily in its students, spending $12,436 per pupil and maintaining a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13.8:1.
One notable area for improvement is 6th-grade math, where proficiency (45.1%) lags nearly 9 points behind the district average (53.9%), making it the school's lowest subject score. However, the dramatic improvement in math scores through 8th grade, culminating in the exceptional Algebra 1 performance, suggests a highly effective math pipeline that accelerates student learning. The school's chronic absenteeism rate of 18.1% is slightly higher than the district's 17.5% but remains below the state average of 22.3%, and it does not appear to hinder overall academic success. Despite being part of a top-tier district ranked in the 96th percentile, Palmetto Middle exceeds district averages in several key areas, indicating it is a driver of high performance within Anderson 01 rather than simply a beneficiary of it.
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