Burton Pack Elementary, Columbia SC

Original Research by School Decision on Burton Pack Elementary

Burton Pack Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Columbia, South Carolina, part of the Richland 01 district. The school sits on Garden Drive in a neighborhood that reflects the broader texture of the state capital: Columbia is home to the University of South Carolina’s flagship campus, the South Carolina State House, and Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest basic training installation. The city’s downtown and university life are closely intertwined, and the metropolitan area has grown steadily in recent years.

The school itself is relatively small and serves a student body that is predominantly Black, with small shares of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. Every student at Burton Pack qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of the high level of economic need in the school community.

State testing results for the most recent school year show that in math, roughly one in five students scored at the proficient level or above across grades three through five. In English language arts, about two in five students met that bar in third and fifth grade, while fourth grade was closer to three in ten. Fourth-grade science scores were similar to the math results. These figures place the school’s overall proficiency index in the bottom quartile among Richland County’s seven school districts. Social studies data is only available from several years ago and used a different assessment and proficiency standard, so it is not directly comparable.

Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data and staffing metrics were not available in the data provided.

Columbia’s housing market, relative to national benchmarks, is more affordable. The typical home value in the area sits below the national median, and monthly rent is modest compared to what a mortgage would cost at current interest rates. The city’s major employers—state government, the university, Fort Jackson, and the health care system—provide a stable economic base. The downtown core near the State House and university campus offers the most walkability, with the Five Points and Congaree Vista districts drawing restaurants and shops, while much of the rest of the city is suburban and car-dependent.

For a family considering Burton Pack Elementary, the classroom is a high-poverty setting where proficiency rates on state assessments are well below the county average. A parent may want to ask the school about the specific academic supports available, particularly in math, and what interventions or enrichment programs are in place. The school’s small size may allow for close attention from staff, but the data does not speak to class sizes or teacher qualifications. There is no public record of program offerings at this school. The broader Columbia context offers a capital city with university and military ties, a growing population, and housing that remains comparatively attainable, but the school’s academic results are a soft spot that families with high expectations for early literacy and numeracy would want to investigate further with the school itself.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 47% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 42% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 37% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 54% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 57% · ▼ 28 pts below district

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

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 56% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 41% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 63% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

This schoolRichland 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.