Florence Chapel Middle, Duncan SC

Original Research by School Decision on Florence Chapel Middle

Florence Chapel Middle serves seventh and eighth graders in the town of Duncan, part of Spartanburg School District 5. Duncan sits in the I-85 corridor between Greenville and Spartanburg, a mix of industrial plants and residential neighborhoods. The town has been growing steadily, driven by manufacturing employers such as several European firms that have their North American headquarters here, and by the economic pull of a nearby major auto assembly plant. Housing values in the area are near the state average, and rents are moderate relative to national benchmarks, though no recent large-scale housing developments were identified in available records.

The school itself is a regular public middle school, not a charter or magnet, enrolling a student body that is predominantly white, with Black students making up a sizable share and Hispanic students a smaller but still notable portion. Just over half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

On the 2024‑25 South Carolina state assessments, student performance varied by grade and subject, and a parent may want to discuss these results with the school to get the full picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates were solid across all tested grades, with the highest share of students meeting or exceeding standards in eighth grade. Math proficiency was more uneven: seventh-grade math fell below half of students reaching the bar, while sixth- and eighth-grade math were higher. In science, tested only in sixth grade, about half of students scored proficient or above. The school’s overall proficiency index across subjects and grades sits just below the midpoint among middle schools in Spartanburg County’s districts. Because South Carolina changed its cut scores for ELA and science in recent years, year-over-year trends are not directly comparable, and this is the only year of data available for the current assessment, so there is no multi-year trend line to examine.

No data was available on chronic absenteeism, special education enrollment, or English learner counts, so those factors cannot be assessed here. The school serves only two grades and does not have a graduation rate, which is consistent with a middle school that does not graduate students. Discipline, course access, and staffing information were also absent from the records, leaving gaps that a family may wish to fill by contacting the school directly.

For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a mid-sized middle school in a growing industrial town, where academic performance is mixed—stronger in reading than in math at some grade levels—and where the community context is one of steady development and a practical, highway-oriented layout. The absence of recent district-level initiatives or bond measures in available public records means there is little reported about upcoming facility or program changes from the district itself. What is clear is that Florence Chapel Middle operates within a district that sits in an area of sustained economic growth, and the school serves a student population where a majority come from households that qualify for income-based meal assistance.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 44% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 38% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 57% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 60% · ▼ 4 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 59% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Science

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 47% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 776%

School 76% · District 69% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

This schoolSpartanburg 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-income54%Higher-income68%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income65%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income73%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income45%Higher-income61%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income44%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income56%17 pp gap