Hickory Grove-sharon Elementary, Hickory Grove SC

Original Research by School Decision on Hickory Grove-sharon Elementary

Hickory Grove-Sharon Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade in the rural community of Hickory Grove, part of the York 01 district in York County. The school sits on Hickory Grove Road, slightly apart from the town’s historic center along Wylie Avenue, where a part-time town hall, a volunteer fire department, and an annual Christmas parade form the mainstays of civic life. The town is very small, overwhelmingly rural, and has seen measured residential growth in recent years; home values have risen in the same period. No major new housing developments or commercial projects were identified in publicly available sources.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who identify as two or more races, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native. More than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, giving the school a moderate-to-high concentration of economic need. State testing data is available for math, English language arts, and science across grades three through six, with social studies data from a prior year. Caution is warranted when comparing results over time, as South Carolina changed cut scores for English language arts and science in the testing period reflected here.

In math, proficiency rates across grades three through six fell within a narrow band, with each grade level showing about two-fifths of students meeting the state’s proficiency benchmark. In English language arts, the school performed more consistently higher: in each tested grade, roughly half of students or slightly more scored at or above the proficiency level. Science results were weaker, with grade four at a lower proficiency rate than grade six. Social studies data from a previous year showed a somewhat higher achievement level for grade five, but that assessment used different cut scores and its relevance to current performance is limited.

Compared to other districts within York County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the cohort. This is a straightforward placement relative to its immediate county peers; the comparison set includes four other districts.

The school, as a regular public elementary school with no charter or magnet status, does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was not available in the provided records. Similarly, information on special education identification rates and English learner counts was missing, which means a parent may want to follow up directly with the school to understand how these populations are supported.

The district itself, York 01, did not surface any recent major changes such as bond referendums, curriculum overhauls, or construction projects in the search conducted. That absence does not mean nothing has happened, only that nothing was captured in the sources reviewed.

For a family considering this school, the picture is of a small, rural elementary with a steady academic profile where English language arts is a relative strength and math and science are areas where the school is working from a lower baseline. The economic context of the student body is one of above-average poverty, which often correlates with resource needs that parents may want to understand better. The setting is quiet and traditional, with minimal commercial or civic infrastructure in the town itself; most amenities and secondary schooling would be found elsewhere in York County. The school’s size is moderate for an elementary, and its grade span through sixth means students transition to a middle school in the district afterward. A parent looking for a close-knit, rural elementary experience with a clear sense of where the school stands academically relative to its county neighbors will have a straightforward read here.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 46% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 51% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 40% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 38% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 57% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 61% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 51% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 49% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grade 438%

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

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

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 46% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 70% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

This schoolYork 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 3Lower-income54%Higher-income54%0 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income70%28 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income39%Higher-income42%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income26%Higher-income61%35 pp gap