Camden Middle, Camden SC - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Camden Middle

Camden Middle serves sixth through eighth grade as a regular public school in the Kershaw County School District. The school draws from the town of Camden, an older inland South Carolina community with deep historic roots, a strong equestrian culture, and a manufacturing and distribution economy. Camden Middle is a large middle school for its grade band, with a student body that is majority white and includes substantial Black and Hispanic populations. Every student at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of widespread economic need.

State testing results from the most recent school year offer a mixed academic picture. In English language arts, proficiency was around half of students at each grade level, with the seventh-grade rate somewhat higher than the others and the sixth-grade rate somewhat lower. In math, the pattern was weaker: a noticeably smaller share of students met the proficiency bar compared to ELA, and the rate declined as grade level rose, with the lowest performance in eighth grade. Testing in sixth-grade science showed proficiency at roughly the same level as ELA. Social studies data was available only from several years earlier and reflected a different assessment and scoring criteria, which limits direct comparison. Because the state changed cut scores for ELA and science assessments in the current year, year-over-year trend comparisons are not reliable, and only a single year of data is available for the main subjects.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Information on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, discipline, and program offerings such as advanced coursework or electives was not available in the data. Course access and special education or English learner counts were also missing. The comparison set for this school includes only one district in Kershaw County, so no meaningful placement against peers could be provided.

Families considering Camden Middle should weigh the modest academic attainment against the high level of economic need the school serves. The math results, in particular, are an area where a parent may want to follow up with the school about how the curriculum supports struggling students. The ELA and science performance is nearer to a typical middle school profile but still leaves a substantial portion of students below the proficient threshold.

Camden itself is a town defined by its history and its equestrian traditions. The downtown retains a historic streetscape, and the town draws regional visitors for steeplechase events. After the loss of its largest industrial employer some years ago, Camden has attracted new manufacturing and a large distribution center, contributing to modest recent population growth. The town is part of the Columbia metropolitan area and has Amtrak service. The school district did not have any publicly reported recent changes that would affect parents, such as boundary adjustments or new programs.

Camden Middle offers a standard academic pathway for a large, high-needs middle school in a small historic city. A parent may want to ask about supports in math and about how the school addresses the economic challenges reflected in its universal free lunch program. The absence of data on discipline, attendance, and course access means a family would benefit from a school visit or conversation with current parents to fill in those gaps.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 33% · ▲ 1 pts above district

even with state median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 29% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 31% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 48% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 58% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 54% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Science

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 68% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

This schoolKershaw 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-income33%Higher-income74%41 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income47%Higher-income74%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income69%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income62%40 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income53%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income16%Higher-income37%21 pp gap