Tanglewood Middle, Greenville SC

Original Research by School Decision on Tanglewood Middle

Tanglewood Middle serves grades six through eight in Greenville, South Carolina, as part of the Greenville 01 school district. It is a regular public school with an enrollment that is large for a middle school. The student body is made up mostly of Hispanic and Black students, with a smaller share of White students and small numbers of students identifying as two or more races, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Every student at this school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives a clear picture of the economic circumstances that families in this community face.

The school sits within a city that has seen rapid population and economic growth. Greenville has a walkable downtown anchored by Falls Park on the Reedy and the Liberty Bridge, and the Swamp Rabbit Trail provides a pedestrian and biking corridor through the area. Major employers include Michelin, Prisma Health, Bon Secours, and Duke Energy, and the school district itself is the largest employer in South Carolina. Civic and cultural life centers on downtown Greenville, with institutions like the Peace Center and the Greenville County Museum of Art. Furman University is present in the area but on a separate campus.

State assessment data from the most recent testing year shows that proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science are low. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above was in the low teens across grades six, seven, and eight. In English language arts, the results were higher but still modest, landing in the high twenties for grades six and eight and rising into the low forties for grade seven. In science, tested in grade six only, the proficiency rate was around one in five students. A single point of social studies data from several years ago, before the pandemic, showed that roughly half of seventh graders met the proficiency bar on that assessment. Because the state changed its cut scores for English language arts and science between testing cycles, it is not possible to draw direct comparisons with results from earlier years. There is only one year of multi-year trend data available, so no trend can be established.

A parent looking at these results should understand that the school serves a student population where every student qualifies for economic support, and proficiency rates are well below what one typically sees in more affluent school settings. That pattern is common across schools with similar demographics, but it also means that a family considering Tanglewood may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students who need academic intervention, and what specific programs or strategies are in place to move more students to grade-level proficiency.

The comparison fact-set that would normally position this school among other districts in Greenville County could not be calculated because there was only one school in the cohort for the proficiency index metric, and the graduation rate and chronic absenteeism metrics were not available. Because this is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was missing from the available records. A parent may want to ask the school for its attendance data directly.

Program offerings, staffing ratios, and discipline data were not available in the records provided. The school’s magnet status and Title I status were also not reported, though the fact that every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch would typically classify it as a schoolwide Title I program. The district brief turned up no recent changes of lasting impact that were publicly reported.

For a family weighing this school, the picture is one of a large, economically disadvantaged middle school with very low state test scores. Greenville’s broader growth and economic vitality mean that resources and opportunities in the region are expanding, but that growth has not yet translated into strong academic outcomes at this particular school. A parent who values a middle school experience that works intensively on foundational skills and who is prepared to ask tough questions about academic support and intervention may want to look further into what Tanglewood offers beyond the test scores.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 611%

School 11% · District 47% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 41% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 41% · ▼ 30 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 61% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 63% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 61% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Science

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 55% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 72% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

This schoolGreenville 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 6Lower-income29%Higher-income23%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income47%Higher-income23%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income27%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income11%Higher-income14%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income14%Higher-income5%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income12%Higher-income5%7 pp gap