These are the top SC elementary schools and middle schools in U.S. News rankings

For the first time, U.S. News & World Report has ranked the best public elementary and middle schools throughout South Carolina.

The news source is perhaps best known for its annual rankings of America’s best colleges. U.S. News & World Report also ranks the best high schools in the country. Unlike the high school and college rankings, the elementary and middle school rankings do not compare schools nationwide; they are only ranked against one another in their states.

The elementary and middle school rankings are based on test scores and the ability to educate students off all backgrounds, according to the methodology page.

“Half the formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. In other words, the top-ranked schools are all high achieving and have succeeded at educating all their students,” the ranking’s methodology page says.

Top-ranked schools tended to be in larger districts. Greenville 1, which has nearly 74,000 students, had three elementary schools in the top 10 and two middle schools in the top 10. Charleston and Richland 2, which are larger than many colleges, also had several schools in the top 10.

Charter schools varied in ranking. For example, the top-ranked elementary school, East Link Academy in Greenville, is a charter school, but so is Bettis Preparatory Leadership Academy, an Edgefield County K-6 school that ranks between 485th and 647th. After a certain point, U.S News & World report rankings do not assign a specific ranking to schools and instead provide a range.

Here are the top 250 schools in South Carolina as well as the top-ranked schools in Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties, according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings:

Top 10 Elementary schools

• No. 1: East Link Academy (S.C. Public School Charter District - Greenville)
• No. 2: E.L. Wright Middle (Richland 2 K-8 magnet school)
• No. 3: Tigerville Elementary (Greenville)
• No. 4: Meeting Street Academy-Spartanburg (Spartanburg 7)
• No. 5: Buist Academy (Charleston K-8 magnet school)
• No. 6: Green Charter School (S.C. Public School Charter District - Greenville)
• No. 7: Pelham Road Elementary (Greenville)
• No. 8: Muller Road Middle (Richland 2 K-8 magnet school)
• No. 9: Waccamaw Elementary (Georgetown)
• No. 10: Augusta Circle Elementary (Greenville)

Top 10 middle schools

• No. 1: Sterling School (Greenville)
• No. 2: Buist Academy (Charleston)
• No. 3: Rollings Middle School of the Arts (Dorchester 2)
• No. 4: Charleston School of the Arts (Charleston)
• No. 5: Green Charter School (S.C. Public School Charter District - Greenville)
  
  
• No. 6: Moultrie Middle (Charleston)
• No. 7: Southwood Academy for the Arts (Anderson 5)
• No. 8: Langston Charter Middle (Greenville)
• No. 9: Palmetto Scholars Academy (S.C. Public School Charter District - Charleston)
• No. 10: Pleasant Knoll Middle (York 4)

Top-ranked Midlands elementary schools

• No. 2: E.L. Wright Middle (Richland 2 K-8 magnet school)
• No. 8: Muller Road Middle (Richland 2 K-8 magnet school)
• No. 15: Lake Murray Elementary (LR5)
• No. 28: Brockman Elementary (Richland 1)
• No. 29: Rosewood Elementary (Richland 1)
• No. 30: Satchel Ford Elementary (Richland 1)
• No. 38: Round Top Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 42: Lake Murray Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 49: Summit Parkway Middle (Richland 2 K-8 magnet school)
• No. 58: Brennen Elementary (Richland 1)
• No. 60: New Providence Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 75: Lake Carolina Elementary Upper Campus (Richland 2)
• No. 103: Meadow Glen Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 105: Bethel-Hanberry Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 111: Oak Grove Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 117: Forest Lake Elementary (Richalnd 2)
• No. 135: Bookman Road Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 138: Nursery Road Elementary (LR5)
• No. 141: Ballentine Elementary (LR5)
• No. 160: Deerfield Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 169: Bridge Creek Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 175: Rice Creek Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 177: Midway Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 181: Catawba Trail Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 192: East Point Academy (S.C. Public School Charter District - West Columbia)
• No. 193: Oak Pointe Elementary (LR5)
• No. 197: Killian Elementary (Richland 2)
• No. 198: Mt. Pisgah Elementary (Kershaw)
• No. 204: H.E. Corley Elementary (LR5)
• No. 205: Pine Tree Hill Elementary (Kershaw)
• No. 210: Pleasant Hill Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 214: Harbison West Elementary (LR5)
• No. 217: White Knoll Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 220: Green Charter School of the Midlands (S.C. Public School Charter District - Irmo)
  
  
• No. 222: Rocky Creek Elementary (Lexington 1)
• No. 228: Meadowfield Elementary (Richland 1)

Top-ranked Midlands middle schools

• No. 32: Crayton Middle (Richland 1)
• No. 35: Blythewood Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 43: East Point Academy (S.C. Public School Charter District - West Columbia)
• No. 59: Chapin Middle (LR5)
• No. 67: Chapin Intermediate (LR5)
• No. 72: Meadow Glen Middle (Lexington 1)
• No. 73: Dutch Fork Middle (LR5)
• No. 74: Lexington Middle (Lexington 1)
• No. 81: R.H. Fulmer Middle (Lexington 2)
• No. 90: Pleasant Hill Middle (Lexington 1)
• No. 97: E.L. Wright Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 102: Hand Middle School (Richland 1)
• No. 115: Muller Road Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 116: Crossroads Intermediate (LR5)
• No. 120: W.G. Sanders Middle (Richland 1)
• No. 128: Dent Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 135: South Carolina Virtual Charter School (Charter Institute At Erskine - Columbia)
• No. 136: Lugoff-Elgin Middle (Kershaw)
• No. 137: Midlands Arts Conservatory (S.C. Public School Charter District - Columbia)
  
  
• No. 140: Leslie M. Stover Middle (Kershaw)
• No. 144: Longleaf Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 145: Kelly Mill Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 155: Cyril B. Busbee Creative Arts Academy (Lexington 2)
• No 163: Irmo Middle (LR5)
• No. 166: North Central Middle (Kershaw)
• No. 177: Carolina Springs Middle (Lexington 1)
• No. 201: Northside Middle (Lexington 2)
• No. 202: S.C. Connections Academy (S.C. Public School Charter District - Columbia)
• No. 204: Alcorn Middle (Richland 1)
• No. 209: Summit Parkway Middle (Richland 2)
• No. 213: Camden Middle (Kershaw)
• No. 220: W.A. Perry Middle (Richland 1)
• No. 232: St. Andrews Middle (Richland 1)

This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 2:16 PM.