Butler Academy, Hartsville SC - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Butler Academy

Butler Academy is a public charter school in Hartsville that serves kindergarten through seventh grade. It operates as a regular school within the SC Public Charter School District, a statewide authorizer that is not a traditional geographic district. The school’s enrollment is modest for a school covering this grade band, and every student who attends qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a fact that signals the economic context of the families it serves.

The student body is diverse. Black or African American students make up the largest share, followed by white students, with smaller groups of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. The school does not report data on the share of students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the availability of special education and language support services.

On state assessments, Butler Academy’s academic picture is clearest in English language arts. Across grades three through eight, a clear majority of students scored at the proficient level or above in the most recent testing year. That is a genuine strength, particularly in grades four, six, seven, and eight, where proficiency rates were solid across the board. The school’s overall ELA performance stands out as a reliable asset.

Math results are more uneven. In third and seventh grade, roughly half of students reached proficiency, but the rates dropped notably in fourth and fifth grade, and were weakest in sixth grade, where fewer than a third of students met the bar. Eighth grade math performance settled back near half. There is no trend data available before the most recent year, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers reflect an improvement or a decline. A parent whose child struggles in math may want to ask what additional support the school provides.

Science results are available for fourth and sixth grade and show that fewer than half of students scored proficient in either grade. The fourth-grade rate was particularly low. These results come from a testing cycle where the state changed the assessment and cut scores, so direct comparisons to prior years are not possible.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate. There is no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, or course access, so a parent will need to gather those details from the school itself.

The neighborhood context is Hartsville, a small city where major employers include Sonoco Products Company, Novolex, and Stingray Boats. The city has a historic downtown with brick storefronts, a farmers market, and civic anchors like Byerly Park, Neptune Island Waterpark, and Kalmia Gardens. Coker University and the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics are also located here. Hartsville’s population has been slowly declining in recent years. Housing values in the zip code are below the state benchmark, and rental prices are moderate.

The comparison fact-set, which places the school relative to districts in Darlington County, was too small to yield a meaningful academic position. That comparison set had only two districts, and Butler Academy was the only school-level entity with proficiency data, so the metrics were not applicable. The school’s performance is best judged against its own grade-level results and the state context rather than against local peers.

The SC Public Charter School District, as a statewide authorizer, did not provide any recent district-level changes in curriculum, policy, or funding that would bear on a family’s decision.

Butler Academy offers a compact, all-encompassing academic setting for families in Hartsville who want a charter option within their city. The school’s strength in English language arts is clear, while math and science results leave room for conversation with the school about how those subjects are taught and supported. The student body is almost entirely low-income, which shapes the peer environment and the types of family engagement a parent should expect.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 50% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 44% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 36% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 35% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 751%

School 51% · District 32% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 24% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 59% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 60% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 58% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 674%

School 74% · District 62% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 64% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 59% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Science

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 43% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

even with state median

This schoolSC Public Charter School District, 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.