Blacksburg Elementary, Blacksburg SC

Original Research by School Decision on Blacksburg Elementary

Blacksburg Elementary serves grades three through five in the Cherokee County School District, located in the small rural town of Blacksburg, South Carolina, along the Interstate 85 corridor. The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet status. It is one of several separate school campuses serving the community; the district also operates a primary school, a middle school, and a high school in the area.

The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Black students and very small groups of Hispanic students, students of two or more races, Asian students, and American Indian students. Every student at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a meaningful fact for families considering the economic context of the school community. The town itself has a modest household income level, and the local housing market shows home values well below state and national benchmarks, with a recent decline. The town has seen little population growth over recent decades and remains a largely auto-dependent rural community where commuting to Charlotte or Greenville is common.

On state assessments, Blacksburg Elementary shows a mixed picture. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above varies notably by grade. Fourth grade stands out as a relative bright spot, with proficiency above half. Third and fifth grade math proficiency is lower, roughly a third of students or just below that mark. In English language arts, the results are more even, with fourth grade again showing a higher share of students meeting the proficiency bar. Third and fifth grade ELA proficiency lands around half. Fourth grade science results are below half proficient. The school district recently changed its assessment cut scores for ELA and science, meaning these results may not be directly comparable with results from prior years, and trend data is not yet available. The school has only a single year of reported proficiency data under the current system, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving or declining.

Because Blacksburg Elementary only serves grades three through five, there is no graduation rate to consider. That is simply a function of the school’s grade band, not a judgment on outcomes. The school does not offer high school level programs such as Advanced Placement or career and technical pathways, again because of the grades it serves.

The comparison fact-set could not position this school relative to other schools in Cherokee County because there was only one school in the universe used for comparison. This is a limitation of the data, not a reflection on the school itself. A parent looking for comparative context on how well students perform here versus at nearby elementary schools would need to look at individual school report cards from the state.

For a family considering this school, the central takeaway is that Blacksburg Elementary serves a high-poverty community in a small, slow-growing rural town. Academic proficiency is uneven, with stronger reading results in one grade and noticeably weaker math results in other grades. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the specific instructional strategies and supports in place for math at grades three and five, and about how the school addresses the needs of a student population where every child qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is part of the Cherokee 01 district, and publicly reported information about recent district-level changes was not found, so families may also want to check with the district office for any current initiatives or facility plans. The town offers limited commercial activity and walkability, but is within driving distance of regional parks and interstate access for commuting.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 334%

School 34% · District 40% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 40% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 32% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 50% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 54% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 50% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Science

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 31% · ▲ 13 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 62% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

This schoolCherokee 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-income47%Higher-income74%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income75%12 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income71%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income30%Higher-income48%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income56%Higher-income58%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income38%10 pp gap