Westminster Elementary, Westminster SC

Original Research by School Decision on Westminster Elementary

Westminster Elementary serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Oconee 01 district. It sits on its own campus in the small town of Westminster, away from the downtown core where the library, arts center, and historic Main Street are located. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students and a modest number of multiracial children. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that many families in the attendance zone work in the manufacturing plants and other local industries that anchor the town’s economy.

State testing results from the 2024-25 school year give a mixed picture. In math, proficiency rates varied noticeably by grade: third graders cleared the halfway mark, fourth graders landed at the halfway point, and fifth graders posted a strong rate. In English language arts, the pattern was similar, with fifth graders reaching a high rate while third and fourth graders were lower. Science results for fourth graders were below the halfway mark. No testing data from earlier years is available for comparison, and the state changed cut scores for ELA and science in the same year, so any trend would be unreliable even if multiple years existed. Social studies results are from several years ago and are not comparable to the current assessment.

Because the school only goes through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing was not available, so those areas remain a gap a parent may wish to explore directly with the school. The same holds for special education and English learner counts, which were not reported in the data provided. The school’s Title I status was also not listed.

Westminster itself is a stable, small community that peaked in growth a century ago. Housing values in the area are below state and national benchmarks, and a mix of historic homes and standard residential stock is available. The town’s downtown hosts regular events like Music on Main and the Apple Festival, and manufacturing employers such as US Engine Valve and Sandvik provide local jobs. The school is one of several elementary campuses serving the Westminster area, with students later moving to a middle school and then West-Oak High School.

For a family considering this school, the key considerations are the grade-level variation in academic performance—fifth graders show notably stronger results than earlier grades—and the economic context of the community. The absence of trend data and several civil-rights metrics means a parent should ask the school directly about attendance patterns, student support services, and how the district addresses the proficiency gaps visible in the testing numbers. The school’s size is moderate for an elementary, and its setting in a small industrial town offers a different pace from larger suburban or urban districts.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 59% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 56% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 48% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 364%

School 64% · District 66% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 60% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 585%

School 85% · District 62% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Science

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 56% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 68% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

This schoolOconee 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 4Lower-income40%Higher-income74%34 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income78%43 pp gap