Demographics
Multiracial Students Are Now SC's Fourth-Largest Racial Group
Multiracial enrollment has surged 73% since 2017, adding 21,312 students to become the state's fourth-largest racial group and reshaping how schools count their students.
South Carolina Education News & Data
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Charter Schools
From 59% to 83%: Charter Institute at Erskine's Graduation Rate Transformation
The Charter Institute at Erskine improved its aggregate graduation rate from 58.9% to 82.8% in six years, the largest improvement of any entity in South Carolina.
Enrollment
SC's Coastal Growth Engine Just Stalled
Berkeley, Horry, and Charleston all flipped from growth to decline in 2026, joining 14 other districts in a coordinated reversal.
District Spotlight
Fort Mill's 8.5% Chronic Rate Shows What's Possible in South Carolina
Fort Mill School District maintains the lowest chronic absenteeism of any large SC district, with even its most disadvantaged students below the state average.
Equity
South Carolina's White-Black Graduation Gap Peaked During COVID. Now It's Narrowing.
Black students in SC reached an 83.5% graduation rate in 2025, gaining 5.4 points in four years and narrowing the white-Black gap from a COVID peak of 8.8 to 5.8 points.
Special Populations
South Carolina's English Learner Population Surged 39% in Seven Years
LEP enrollment surged 39% in seven years while total enrollment grew just 2.3%. Jasper County leads the state at 45%, and the growth spans coast to Upstate.
Equity
Attendance for SC Students in Foster Care Is Getting Worse, Not Better
Students in foster care in SC have a 42.4% chronic absenteeism rate, up 13.4 points in four years, even as the foster care population dropped by nearly half.
District Spotlight
Greenville County Schools Crosses 90% Graduation Rate for the First Time
Greenville County Schools posted a 90.6% graduation rate in 2025, the first time the state's largest district has crossed 90%, with gains in every subgroup the state reports except youth in foster care.
District Spotlight
Shaw Air Force Base Can't Save Sumter's Schools
Sumter has lost 3,610 students since 2015, a 21.3% decline, despite hosting one of the Southeast's largest military installations. The base's $2 billion impact isn't enough.
Equity
South Carolina's Poverty Attendance Gap: 16 Points and Not Closing
Economically disadvantaged students are chronically absent at 28.5% vs 12.1% for their peers, a 16-point gap that has not budged in four years of data.
Equity
South Carolina Hits All-Time High 86.7% Graduation Rate. Youth in Foster Care Graduate at Barely Half That
South Carolina's graduation rate reached an all-time high of 86.7% in 2025, but youth in foster care graduate at just 44.8%, a 41.9 percentage-point gap.
Demographics
Black Enrollment Fell 15% in South Carolina
South Carolina lost 41,256 Black students since 2015, outpacing white decline and reshaping the state's school demographics as Hispanic enrollment nearly doubled.
Absence
The Corridor of Shame's Attendance Crisis: 30-40% Chronic Absenteeism in Rural I-95 Districts
South Carolina's poorest rural districts along I-95 have chronic absenteeism rates nearly double the state average, deepening decades of educational inequality.
Graduation Rate
South Carolina Produces Record 54,980 Graduates as Rate Hits All-Time High
SC produced 54,980 graduates in the class of 2025 (a record) as the graduation rate reached an all-time high of 86.7% from a record cohort of 63,440.
Enrollment
Nearly Half of SC Districts Hit Record Lows
34 of South Carolina's 81 school districts recorded their lowest enrollment in 12 years in 2025-26, while 59 declined and only 5 reached highs.
