Irmo Middle, Columbia SC - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Irmo Middle

Irmo Middle serves sixth through eighth grade as a regular public school in the Lexington County suburbs of Columbia, South Carolina. It is part of Lexington 05, one of several school districts serving the broader Columbia metro area. The school building sits on the Lexington County side of the city line, in a residential corridor west of downtown that draws families from both older subdivisions and newer developments.

The student population is diverse and predominantly Black, with a substantial White enrollment and smaller groups of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Every student enrolled qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a marker of the school’s high-poverty context. One notable enrollment pattern is that sixth grade is much smaller than seventh and eighth grades, which may reflect the district’s feeder structure or local demographic shifts. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so it is unclear what share of students receive those services.

State assessment results tell a mixed story, with a clear grade-level pattern. In sixth grade, students performed well above typical levels in both English language arts and science, and solidly in math. Those results lift the school’s overall proficiency picture when averaged across grades and subjects. But in seventh and eighth grades, the same subjects show a steep drop. English language arts proficiency falls to about half of students meeting the bar, and math proficiency in seventh and eighth grade is markedly lower, with fewer than a third of students scoring proficient. This kind of mid-school slump is not unusual, but the magnitude here, especially in math, is something a parent may want to discuss with the school. Science testing data is only available for sixth grade, so how students perform in science later on is not clear. Social studies results are from a pre-2019 assessment and are not considered current.

When compared against the average proficiency of school districts across Lexington County, Irmo Middle’s overall performance across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile. That is a positive signal, but the comparison is between this school and entire district averages, not other individual middle schools, so it is a rough benchmark. The school itself does not publish its own strategic priorities or program offerings, and no information was publicly available about course access, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism, so those dimensions of the school experience remain undocumented here.

Housing in the area is priced near what is typical for the state as a whole. Buying a home requires an income multiple that is in line with national norms, while renting consumes a moderate share of a typical household budget. Home values have been stable recently, with no sharp swings.

Columbia, where the school is located, is the state capital and home to the University of South Carolina’s flagship campus and Fort Jackson, a major Army training installation. Those institutions dominate the local economy and give the city a mix of government, university, and military families. The immediate area around the school is suburban, with wide streets and a car-dependent layout, though downtown Columbia is a short drive away. The district’s boundaries stretch across parts of both Lexington and Richland counties, so families living in different parts of the attendance zone may experience different commute patterns and neighborhood characteristics. The school’s website and district communications were not available for this review, so specific updates on facilities, programming, or budget were not included.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 45% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 38% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 37% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 679%

School 79% · District 60% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 63% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 63% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 61% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 79% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

This schoolLexington 05, 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-income72%Higher-income85%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income38%Higher-income75%36 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income73%35 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income59%Higher-income71%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income53%34 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income12%Higher-income45%33 pp gap