Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary, Mt. Pleasant SC

Original Research by School Decision on Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary

Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary serves students from preschool through fifth grade in Mount Pleasant, a large and fast-growing suburban town just across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge from Charleston. The school sits within Charleston 01, the district that covers much of the Charleston metropolitan area. Mount Pleasant is primarily residential and has sprawled northeastward along the Route 17 corridor for many miles, but Whitesides Elementary is located in the older, more established part of town near the historic Old Village neighborhood. The town has been one of South Carolina’s fastest-growing areas for decades, and its housing market reflects that desirability. Home values in the school’s zip code are well above both state and national benchmarks, and while the area is not as expensive as downtown Charleston, it demands a high premium compared to much of the rest of the state. Rents are also elevated, and the cost of a mortgage here, after a typical down payment, is steep relative to median incomes nationally. A family considering this school should expect a significant housing investment.

The school itself serves a sizable enrollment for an elementary school. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, and Asian students, and a very small proportion of students identifying as two or more races. Fewer than a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this school on the lower end of economic need compared to many schools in the district and state.

Academically, Whitesides Elementary posts consistently high results on South Carolina’s state assessments. In both math and English language arts, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above was well into the eightieth and ninetieth percentiles across the tested grade levels. Every tested grade in both subjects cleared roughly four-fifths of students meeting or exceeding the state’s proficiency bar, and some grades hit around nine-tenths. Science results, tested in grade four, were somewhat lower but still showed strong performance. An older social studies score from a previous assessment cycle, before the state switched testing platforms, also showed high proficiency. The school’s single-year proficiency index places it at a high level, though recent changes to the state’s cut scores for ELA and science mean that direct year-over-year trend comparisons are not reliable from the data available. The school has only one year of data from the current testing regime, so a trend cannot be established.

The district’s publicly reported information did not include recent strategic changes, bond measures, or curriculum shifts, so there is little to report on district-level developments that would directly affect this school. The data on chronic absenteeism and graduation rate do not apply to an elementary school, and that absence is simply a function of the grade band.

What a parent or resident should take from this is straightforward. Whitesides Elementary is a high-performing public school in an affluent, fast-growing, but expensive suburban town. Its student body is economically advantaged relative to the county and state, and its state test results are strong across the board. The school does not serve secondary grades, so there is nothing to say about its course offerings or high school pathways. The peer environment will reflect the community’s demographics, and the school’s size is large for an elementary school. For a family that can manage the housing costs of this part of Mount Pleasant, the academic foundation here is solid, with no soft spots in the available data to flag.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 389%

School 89% · District 63% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 480%

School 80% · District 60% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 584%

School 84% · District 57% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 390%

School 90% · District 65% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 66% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 594%

School 94% · District 67% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Science

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 54% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 592%

School 92% · District 68% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income88%Higher-income88%0 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income96%Higher-income94%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income67%Higher-income83%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income70%Higher-income87%18 pp gap