Chicora Elementary, North Charleston SC

Original Research by School Decision on Chicora Elementary

Chicora Elementary serves first through fifth grade in North Charleston, part of the Charleston 01 school district. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet.

The student body is almost entirely composed of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and the population is predominantly Black, with a small Hispanic enrollment and very few white students. This is a school where nearly every child comes from a low-income household, which families should understand shapes both the resources available and the peer context. Data on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status was not reported.

State assessment results for the 2024-25 school year show a wide range in performance across subjects and grade levels. In third grade, slightly more than two in five students scored proficient in both math and English language arts. That share dropped sharply in fourth grade, where fewer than one in five students met the proficiency bar in either subject. Fifth grade results improved in English, with more than a third of students scoring proficient, but math remained near one in five. Science results for fourth grade were low, with roughly one in ten students reaching proficiency. Older social studies data from 2018-19 showed about one in four fifth graders proficient.

These proficiency rates are below what many families would hope to see. A parent considering Chicora Elementary may want to discuss directly with the school what academic supports and interventions are in place, particularly given the decline between third and fourth grade and the weak science results. The fact that the district is large and well-resourced, as Charleston 01 is, may mean programs exist at the district level that the school draws on for support. The available data covers only one year for most subjects, so trend information is limited.

North Charleston itself is an industrial and manufacturing city, home to Boeing’s major 787 assembly facility and Joint Base Charleston. The city grew quickly after World War II around the naval base, and after the base closed, it reinvented itself around aerospace, automotive parts, and technology. Residential areas range from older neighborhoods near the former base to newer subdivisions. The built environment is car-dependent, spread over a large area, with commercial corridors rather than a walkable downtown core. Civic anchors include Riverfront Park on the old naval base, the North Charleston Coliseum, and the Performing Arts Center. Housing values in the zip code are below the national median and have seen a slight decline year over year, while rents have been rising noticeably faster than the national pace.

The district itself did not appear to have major recent changes such as bond measures, boundary shifts, or curriculum overhauls based on the information available. That does not mean nothing is happening locally, only that significant parent-facing developments were not found in the research.

Chicora Elementary is a high-poverty school in a mid-sized industrial city within a large countywide district. The academic results are modest overall, with some grade-level variation. Families looking at this school should investigate what specific academic interventions, tutoring, or enrichment programs are available, especially for students who arrive behind grade level, given the school’s composition and outcome pattern.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 63% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 60% · ▼ 41 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 57% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 65% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 66% · ▼ 47 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 67% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Science

Grade 410%

School 10% · District 54% · ▼ 44 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 68% · ▼ 43 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

This schoolCharleston 01, 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.