Great Falls High, Great Falls SC

Original Research by School Decision on Great Falls High

Great Falls High, a regular public school in Chester County, serves students from sixth through twelfth grade in a single building. This configuration means that a student entering as a sixth-grader will stay in the same school through graduation, a long-tenure arrangement that families may find stabilizing or confining depending on their perspective. The school is part of the Chester 01 district, which, according to publicly reported information, has invested in a 1:1 technology initiative, providing devices to students for use at school and at home.

The student body is small in overall size for its grade band and draws from the town of Great Falls, a community originally built around textile mills and hydroelectric power on the Catawba River. The town’s population has shown a modest decline in recent years, and its economy has shifted from a mill-based base to one where many residents commute to larger cities via the nearby interstate. Housing costs in the area are well below national and state benchmarks, and a substantial share of the school’s students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the working-class character of the community.

In terms of peer environment, the school’s composition is roughly evenly split between Black students and white students, with a smaller but noticeable share of students identifying as two or more races. This is a dual-demographic student body without a dominant single group, which sets it apart from many schools in the region. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about the scope of support for those populations.

On state assessments, performance is uneven. In English language arts, results are mixed, with proficiency rates in the individual tested grades falling at or near the middle range. In mathematics, proficiency rates are quite low across the middle-grade levels tested, a soft spot that a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand what interventions or supports are in place. Science results from the one tested grade show proficiency near the midpoint. Social studies data is from an older testing year and used a different proficiency standard, making it difficult to compare with current results. No high school end-of-course exam data was available in this profile, so a parent should ask for those results separately.

No graduation rate was reported in the data provided. No information on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course access was available. For a school that spans middle and high school, this leaves substantial gaps in the picture. A family considering Great Falls High would want to ask the school directly about its graduation rate, its Advanced Placement or dual-enrollment offerings, career and technical education pathways, and how it addresses the challenge of middle-school math proficiency.

The town of Great Falls itself is small and walkable in its historic core, which is listed on the National Register. The Catawba River provides a recreational anchor, and the town is actively promoting outdoor tourism. But the school sits in a district that, based on the limited publicly reported information available, has faced the broader economic transitions of rural mill towns. For a family, this school offers a small, stable setting with a long runway from sixth grade through graduation, but with clear academic challenges, particularly in math, that merit a closer look.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-89%Cohort of 46 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

241 schools plotted. 4 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 24% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 18% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 18% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 43% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 49% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 48% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Science

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 35% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 51% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median

This schoolChester 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.