Oakbrook Middle, Ladson SC - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Oakbrook Middle

Oakbrook Middle serves sixth through eighth grade in Ladson, a census-designated place that straddles Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties. Ladson has no incorporated town government and no traditional downtown; its civic anchor is Exchange Park, a large events center that hosts the Coastal Carolina Fair each October. The community is car-dependent and suburban, with Interstate 26 and US Route 78 running through it, and most residents commute to jobs in surrounding cities. The area is growing steadily, and the CDP’s boundaries have shrunk as neighboring Summerville and North Charleston annex portions of it.

Oakbrook is a regular public school in the Dorchester 02 district. The school’s enrollment is sizable for a middle school. Just over half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of a school serving a mixed-income community. The student body is diverse: a little over a third of students are white, a slightly smaller share are Black, and there are also Hispanic students and students who identify as two or more races, along with smaller Asian and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander populations.

On state assessments, a clear pattern emerges. English language arts is a strength. In each grade, a substantial majority of students scored proficient or above, with the highest rate in seventh grade and a still solid showing in eighth grade. Science results in sixth grade also show a majority of students meeting the proficiency bar. Math is the soft spot. Across all three grades, proficiency rates are lower, with eighth grade the weakest and seventh grade the strongest of the three. A parent looking at this profile will see a school where literacy skills are solid for most students but where math achievement is an area the school will need to address. The data available is from a single year, so there is no trend line yet to see whether math is improving or holding steady. Social studies data was from an earlier year and used a different assessment, so it is not directly comparable to current results.

When placed against the two other districts in Dorchester County, Oakbrook's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint. That is a useful benchmark, though the county comparison set is small—only three districts—so the spread is narrow.

The district is growing. Dorchester 02 recently opened East Edisto Middle School to add capacity, a direct response to population growth in the Summerville, Ladson, and North Charleston corridor. This is relevant for families: school zoning can shift as the district adds capacity, and a growing district generally means continued facility planning.

The school’s environment data is thin. Discipline figures, chronic absenteeism, and staffing ratios were not available in the data provided. Special populations counts, such as students with IEPs and English learners, were also missing. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these areas, especially class sizes and support for students who need extra help.

Housing in the area shows home values near the national benchmark and monthly rents that, given local incomes, are a noticeable portion of household earnings. The market is tight, consistent with a growing metro area.

Overall, Oakbrook Middle presents a picture of a solidly performing school with a clear academic signature: strong reading and writing scores, mixed math results, and a diverse, lower-middle to middle-income student body. It sits in a growing suburban corridor where the district is actively adding classroom space. A family weighing this school would want to understand how the school addresses math instruction, what support is available for students below grade level, and which middle school their address feeds given the district’s recent boundary adjustments.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 45% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 41% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 39% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 63% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 66% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 57% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 770%

School 70% · District 75% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median

This schoolDorchester 02, 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 6Lower-income61%Higher-income74%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income60%Higher-income79%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income49%Higher-income68%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income48%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income36%Higher-income51%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income21%Higher-income44%23 pp gap