Forts Pond Elementary, Pelion SC

Original Research by School Decision on Forts Pond Elementary

Forts Pond Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the small, rural town of Pelion, South Carolina. The school is part of Lexington County School District One, a large and growing district that recently passed a bond referendum to build new schools and address overcrowding. Pelion itself is a quiet agricultural community southwest of Columbia, experiencing a slight population decline, and it is home to four schools including Forts Pond. The town’s character is that of a close-knit, car-dependent rural settlement anchored by volunteer traditions like the annual South Carolina Peanut Party.

On the most recent state assessments, Forts Pond Elementary’s results show a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates rose across the tested grades, reaching roughly half of students meeting the standard in grade five. Math proficiency was lower across all three tested grades, with about a third of students meeting benchmarks in each. Science proficiency was notably lower. Because the state made changes to its cut scores for English and science assessments in that year, direct comparisons to prior years are not possible. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across subjects and grades, places it above the midpoint among districts in Lexington County. This indicates that while the school is not at the top of the county’s performance range, it is not at the bottom either. A parent may want to ask the school how it supports students who are not yet meeting state standards, particularly in math and science.

The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Black, multiracial, and Asian students. The school reports that every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a designation that reflects the economic context of the community. The town’s median housing values are notably lower than both the state and national benchmarks, making this a more affordable area for families. The estimated monthly mortgage payment in the area is under the typical rent figure, which may shape the housing decisions of families considering the school.

Forts Pond Elementary is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The district has adopted a new science-of-reading literacy curriculum district-wide, which began phase-in in the 2023-24 school year, and has also invested in teacher salary increases. These district-level changes may affect classroom instruction at Forts Pond, but specific information about how the school implements these initiatives was not available in the data. The school serves only elementary grades, so it does not report a graduation rate, and data on chronic absenteeism was absent. The combination of a high poverty rate and mixed academic results suggests that the school may face challenges common to rural, high-needs elementary schools, but the data does not offer a deeper view into staffing, discipline, or course access to confirm that.

For a family considering this school, the picture is one of an affordable rural community with a school that performs in the middle tier of its county. The ELA results are a relative bright spot, while math and science are areas where the school is clearly working to improve. The district’s investments in new facilities and literacy curriculum are long-term positives, but the immediate academic numbers for Forts Pond suggest a parent should engage with the school directly about how it addresses students who are not yet proficient and what academic supports are available.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 334%

School 34% · District 61% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 59% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 54% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 69% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 71% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 71% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 52% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 78% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

This schoolLexington 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.