The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Social studies. The lowest is 43% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Beaufort Elementary
Beaufort Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Beaufort 01 district. Located in the historic coastal city of Beaufort, the school sits in a community shaped by tourism, a deep military presence, and a carefully preserved antebellum downtown. The city is the county seat of Beaufort County and sits on Port Royal Island, with nearby Marine Corps installations including Parris Island and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort shaping the local economy and family composition. The school building is on Prince Street, not far from the historic district’s winding, oak-lined streets.
The student body reflects the diversity of the surrounding community. The school enrolls a modest-sized population for its grade band, with slightly larger numbers in kindergarten and fifth grade than in other grades. The student composition is majority Black, with a significant share of white students and smaller shares of students who are Hispanic, multiracial, or Asian. The entire student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, placing the school in a high-poverty context. Data on English learner and special education enrollment was not available, so those dimensions of the student profile cannot be described.
State assessment results from the most recent testing year provide a mixed academic picture. In reading, the school performed solidly, with a clear majority of students in each tested grade meeting or exceeding the proficiency benchmark. The share of students at that level rose from third to fifth grade, indicating growth along the grade span. In math, performance was lower. While a slight majority of third graders met the proficiency standard, the share declined in fourth grade and again in fifth grade, where less than half of students scored at that level. Science results, available only for fourth graders, placed under half of students at the proficient level. Social studies data is from an earlier year and a different assessment, making direct comparisons unreliable; that earlier result showed a majority of fifth graders at the proficiency bar, but it is too dated to describe current performance. A single year of data is available for both reading and math, so there is no trend to report.
For a family weighing this school, the academic picture suggests that literacy instruction is a relative strength, while math achievement is an area the district and school may be working to address. A parent may want to ask how the school supports students who are not yet at grade level in math, particularly as students move through the upper elementary grades.
The school operates within Beaufort 01, and a search for recent district-level changes that parents should know about found little of lasting impact. No major boundary shifts, program launches, or leadership transitions surfaced in publicly reported material.
Beaufort itself is a city where the job market is dominated by the military bases and the tourism and hospitality sector, which brings nearly two million visitors annually. Beaufort Memorial Hospital is also a large employer. The housing market in the area is relatively expensive for South Carolina, with home values above the state median and rents that stretch a typical household budget. The surrounding county has a single school district, so the comparison set is narrow and did not yield school-level positioning data for proficiency or chronic absenteeism.
For a family, Beaufort Elementary offers a full-day elementary experience in a diverse, high-poverty school within a city with a strong sense of place and a distinctive historic character. Its academic profile shows a clear split between stronger reading outcomes and weaker math and science results. The school serves a population that is entirely eligible for meal assistance, which may mean a high concentration of students who benefit from additional resources and supports. Families interested in the school would do well to visit, ask about math intervention and enrichment, and learn how the school builds on its reading success.
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