The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Social studies. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Foster Park Elementary
Foster Park Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the city of Union, a small county seat in South Carolina’s piedmont region that was historically a textile and lumbering town. The city has seen a steady population decline over the past two decades, and its housing stock is mostly older single-family homes with a notable vacancy rate. Median household income in Union is low, and about a third of residents live below the poverty line. The city’s economic base today includes a mix of staffing, education, retail, and healthcare employers, with the University of South Carolina Union campus nearby. The broader Union County population has also been stable or declining, and the area promotes its convenience to Greenville and Spartanburg as a selling point rather than relying on local growth drivers.
Foster Park is a regular public school within the Union 01 school district. The school’s enrollment is spread relatively evenly across grades pre-kindergarten through five, with the largest group in kindergarten and the smallest in fifth grade. More than half of the student body is Black, with a substantial share of White students and a smaller group of students who identify as two or more races; Hispanic students make up a small share. Every student at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that reflects the economic circumstances of the community the school serves.
State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year provide a snapshot of academic performance across tested grades. In English language arts, the share of students scoring at proficient or above rose from grade three through grade five, with the fifth grade cohort reaching the highest level among the three tested grades. In mathematics, proficiency rates were lower across all three grades, with a noticeable dip in fifth grade compared to fourth. Fourth grade science results showed a proficiency rate similar to the lower end of the math results; a combined assessment and cut-score change that year means these science results are not directly comparable to prior years. Older social studies results from 2018-19 showed a different assessment framework and are not comparable to current measures. A parent reading these scores should understand that this is a single year’s data, and because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate or high school outcome to consider.
No multi-year trends are available for either math or English language arts; the single point of data for each subject comes from the same 2024-25 school year, so it is not yet possible to see whether performance is improving or declining. The state flagged cut-score changes in both English language arts and science that took effect in 2024-25, which means any comparisons with earlier years would be unreliable even if earlier data were present.
The comparison fact-set that uses Union County districts has only one district, so no meaningful local benchmark is available. A parent looking for context on how Foster Park’s results compare to those of nearby schools in other counties will need to look at state-level averages or seek out results from comparable districts on their own.
No information was provided on course access, staffing ratios, discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, or special education and English learner populations. A parent interested in these dimensions of the school environment would need to ask the school or district directly. The district brief found little of lasting impact in recent district changes, so it was not possible to describe any recent initiatives or restructuring.
Foster Park Elementary is a neighborhood school in a small, economically distressed city with a declining population. The student body is almost entirely low-income, and the school’s academic results show a mixed picture, with English language arts proficiency in fifth grade being a relative bright spot and math proficiency across all grades being an area a parent may want to look into further with the school. The lack of trend data and the limited context from other districts in the same county make it difficult to assess whether the school is improving or holding steady. For a family considering this school, the most useful next step would be to visit, talk with teachers and the principal about how the school supports students who arrive below grade level, and ask what resources the district provides given the high level of economic need.
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