North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary, North Charleston SC

Original Research by School Decision on North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary

North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary is a regular public school in the Charleston County School District serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Its name advertises a creative arts focus, though the data on hand does not detail what that focus looks like in practice—whether the school offers dedicated arts instruction, integrated arts curricula, or partnerships with local cultural institutions. A family drawn to an arts-themed elementary should confirm the program’s scope and daily reality directly with the school.

The school’s enrollment is small for an elementary serving seven grade levels. The student body is diverse: a substantial share of students are Black, a notable share are white, another share are Hispanic, and smaller numbers identify as two or more races or Asian. Every single enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, an unusual figure that indicates a high concentration of low-income households. What this means for the school’s resource base and family engagement context is worth a conversation with staff—schools with this level of economic need often have access to federal Title I funding, though the data did not confirm that designation.

State assessment results from the most recent year show a clear pattern. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient increases steadily by grade, from a level below the state midpoint in third grade to roughly meeting the state midpoint by fifth grade. In math, proficiency is lower across all tested grades, with roughly one in four students scoring proficient in third and fifth grades and a slightly higher share in fourth grade. Science results, available only for fourth grade, also land near that lower rate. The state changed its scoring standards for ELA and science in this testing cycle, which means these results are not directly comparable to prior years. For social studies, only data from several years ago is available, so no current picture exists. Overall, the school’s academic performance is weak relative to state averages, especially in math and science. This is a soft spot any prospective family would want to investigate further. The school does not serve high school grades, so it has no graduation rate to report.

The school is located in North Charleston, a large, sprawling city that spans parts of three counties. North Charleston is car-dependent by design, with a mix of older industrial neighborhoods near the former Charleston Naval Base and newer subdivisions farther out. The military base closure decades ago reshaped the local economy, which has since shifted toward aerospace manufacturing—Boeing operates a major assembly facility adjacent to the airport—along with automotive parts and technology firms. Joint Base Charleston and the airport itself are major employers and civic anchors. Median home values in the area have risen, and rents have climbed more steeply, reflecting broader regional cost pressures. The city lacks a single walkable downtown; schools, civic venues, and shopping are distributed along major roads.

For the district itself, the research found little in the way of recently reported changes, such as bond measures, rezoning, or curriculum overhauls, that would be relevant to a parent comparing schools. This absence is worth noting only as a gap in the available record, not as an indication that nothing is happening.

North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary is a small, high-poverty school with a diverse enrollment and an arts-themed identity that needs local verification. Its academic results, particularly in math and science, are lower than state averages, and a parent considering the school would want to understand what supports and interventions are in place for students, how the arts program operates, and what the school’s recent trajectory looks like beneath the surface of a single test year.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 63% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 60% · ▼ 27 pts below district

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

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 57% · ▼ 29 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 65% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 66% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 67% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Science

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 54% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 68% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 6 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income50%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income16%Higher-income50%34 pp gap