Annie Burnside Elementary, Columbia SC

Original Research by School Decision on Annie Burnside Elementary

Annie Burnside Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Richland 01, the school district covering much of central Columbia, South Carolina. The school sits in the southeastern part of the city, near the intersection of major roads that connect residential neighborhoods to the broader Columbia area.

On the state’s SC Ready assessments, Annie Burnside’s students show a clear pattern. In English language arts, proficiency rates are solid across the tested grades, with fourth graders particularly strong. Mathematics results are softer; roughly two in five to just under half of students score at the proficient level depending on grade. In fourth-grade science, about two-thirds of students met the proficiency bar. Social studies data is available only from an older testing cycle, so it does not reflect current performance. Overall, when all tested subjects and grades are combined into a single proficiency index, Annie Burnside ranks in the top quartile among elementary schools relative to the school districts in Richland County, a comparison that positions it well within the local area. Because the state adjusted cut scores for ELA and science in recent years, direct comparisons to earlier results are uncertain, and this is the only year of data for which a school-level proficiency rate is reported, so there is no trend to examine.

The student body is relatively small for an elementary school serving these grades. Every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a marker of the economic profile of the neighborhood. Racially, the school is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of students who are Hispanic, white, of two or more races, and Asian. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those support structures. No information on discipline, chronic absenteeism, or teacher staffing was provided, either.

Housing in the area around the school is moderately priced compared to national and state benchmarks, with home values below the statewide typical level. Rents are more modest as well, and the estimated cost of owning versus renting suggests that homeownership is accessible by national standards. Columbia itself is the state capital and home to the University of South Carolina, Fort Jackson, and a range of state government and military employers. The downtown core blends civic and university life, but the school’s neighborhood is suburban in feel, requiring a car for most errands. The district, Richland 01, had no major publicly reported changes in recent years that would affect families.

Annie Burnside offers a straightforward elementary program within a district that serves a large and diverse city. The school’s academic profile is strongest in reading and writing, solid in science, and somewhat weaker in math—a pattern parents may want to discuss with the school to understand how math instruction is being addressed. The entirely FRPL-eligible population means the school receives federal Title I funding and likely has associated support programs, though Title I status was not directly confirmed in the data. For families looking for a neighborhood elementary in a working-class part of southeast Columbia, Annie Burnside is a school with clear academic strengths in literacy and a position among the better-performing elementary schools in the county.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 47% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 42% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 37% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 54% · ▲ 6 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 477%

School 77% · District 57% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 56% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 41% · ▲ 27 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 63% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 6 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.