Flat Rock Elementary, Anderson SC

Original Research by School Decision on Flat Rock Elementary

Flat Rock Elementary is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within Anderson 03, a district in the Upstate of South Carolina. It is a school where every single student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a detail that shapes the context of its academic results. The school is located within the city of Anderson, a manufacturing and college town that sits on the Interstate 85 corridor roughly midway between Atlanta and Charlotte, an area described as one of the nation's hottest growth corridors. Anderson itself has a traditional downtown, a modest public transit system, and is home to Anderson University as well as major employers like AnMed Health and a large cluster of manufacturers. The district recently acquired land to begin replacing outdated facilities, with Starr-Iva Middle School identified as the most urgent replacement priority, signaling that infrastructure upgrades are on the horizon for families in the district.

Flat Rock Elementary has a predominantly white student body, with the remainder composed of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. The school is of a size typical for an elementary school serving these grades, with enrollment spread fairly evenly across kindergarten through fifth grade and a slightly smaller pre-kindergarten group. No data was available on the share of students receiving special education services or English learner support, so a parent seeking those specifics would need to ask the school directly.

On state testing, the school shows a clear academic picture across the tested grades. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient or above was solid and consistent across third, fourth, and fifth grades, with each grade landing in a similar range. Math proficiency was also solid, with third grade performing the strongest of the three tested grades and fourth and fifth grades coming in a bit lower but still within a reasonable band. In fourth-grade science, just over half of students met the proficiency benchmark. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed it above the midpoint among elementary schools in Anderson County, meaning it performed better than the median school in the county. A single year of data is available for the 2024-25 school year, so trends over time cannot yet be assessed. It is also worth noting that South Carolina made changes to its cut scores for English language arts and science assessments starting that year, which means the proficiency bar shifted and direct comparisons with prior years are not straightforward.

The housing market in the school’s zip code is notably more affordable than both the state and national benchmarks, with home values showing a slight year-over-year decline. Rents relative to income are also on the lower side. This combination of affordability and solid academic performance at a school that sits above the county median makes Flat Rock Elementary a practical option for families who work in the Anderson area or along the I-85 corridor and are looking for a school that delivers consistent, above-average outcomes in a community where housing costs are not stretched. The lack of data on chronic absenteeism and the missing special education and English learner counts are gaps a parent may want to explore directly with the school to get a full picture of student support.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 76% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 70% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 57% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 371%

School 71% · District 75% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 73% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 74% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 61% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 81% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolAnderson 03, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.