Theodore Lester Elementary, Florence SC

Original Research by School Decision on Theodore Lester Elementary

Theodore Lester Elementary serves students in third through fifth grade in the Florence 1 school district. The school is a regular public school located in the city of Florence, a mid-sized regional hub in northeastern South Carolina that sits at the intersection of two major interstates. Florence functions as the financial, medical, and service center for the Pee Dee region, with an economy that relies heavily on healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution. The city has invested heavily in downtown redevelopment in recent years, though the area remains largely car-dependent outside of a concentrated core.

The school’s enrollment is modest for its grade band, and the student body is diverse. Every student at Theodore Lester qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a mark of the economic context the school serves. The largest racial or ethnic group is Black students, followed by white students, with smaller shares of students who are Hispanic or of two or more races. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source material, so a parent who wants to understand those dimensions of support should ask the school directly.

On the most recent South Carolina state assessments, Theodore Lester Elementary’s proficiency rates in English language arts were above average in all three tested grades. In math, the picture was more mixed, with the third-grade and fourth-grade proficiency rates in a moderate range and the fifth-grade rate a bit lower. Science proficiency for fourth graders was in a similar middle range. The state changed its cut scores and assessment names in some subjects in the same year as these results, which makes direct year-over-year comparisons unreliable, though the school has only a single year of data in the source system for the current testing regime anyway.

When compared to other schools within the four districts of Florence County, Theodore Lester’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed it in the top quartile. That is a position worth noting, as it sits above the county median. A parent should be aware that the county comparison is a narrow one, only four districts, so it does not speak to how the school stacks up statewide.

The district itself underwent a major change in 2022, when Florence County School District One was mandatorily consolidated with another district by the state superintendent. The consolidated entity kept the Florence 1 name and now operates under a new nine-member elected board. Families who moved into the area recently may want to understand how this consolidation has affected school attendance zones and governance, as those details were not provided in the source material.

Because Theodore Lester is an elementary school serving only grades three through five, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on chronic absenteeism was available in the source. The school’s discipline statistics and staffing ratios were also absent from the data. The housing market in the school’s zip code is more affordable than the state and national benchmarks, with prices that are lower than what one would find in many parts of South Carolina. Rents are also below the national typical income-to-rent ratio, suggesting that for families who qualify for the school zone, housing costs are not as steep as they are elsewhere.

A parent considering Theodore Lester Elementary will find a school that, by the available evidence, performs solidly in English language arts and sits competitively within its county. The economic context is one of high poverty, with all students receiving meal assistance, and the school is a regular public elementary with no charter or magnet status. The city of Florence offers a mix of healthcare and manufacturing jobs, ongoing downtown revitalization, and a range of civic and cultural institutions. Anyone looking further into student support programs, special education services, or the school’s approach to math instruction will need to reach out to the school directly, as those specifics were not in the data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 62% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 53% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 50% · ▼ 5 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 64% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 62% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 63% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 51% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 68% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolFlorence 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-income51%Higher-income87%35 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income56%Higher-income71%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income45%Higher-income86%41 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income87%53 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income49%Higher-income64%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income34%Higher-income68%33 pp gap