The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Compass Collegiate Academy
Compass Collegiate Academy is a public charter school serving kindergarten through third grade on Charleston’s peninsula. It is a regular school that operates under the SC Public Charter School District, which is a statewide authorizer rather than a traditional geographic district. Because the school only serves the early elementary years, most of the measures that apply to older schools — high school graduation rates, advanced coursework, college readiness — do not apply here. The school’s small enrollment is spread across four grades, and the building sits on Race Street in the historic downtown area.
State testing data is available for one grade and two subjects, with a single year of results reported. In third grade reading and language arts, a majority of students scored at or above the proficient level. In third grade math, proficiency was lower, with roughly a third of students meeting the same bar. Results for fourth grade, which would include math, English language arts, and science, were suppressed in the state data, likely due to a small tested population. That means the only published results come from a single cohort, and there is no trend line to compare against. Parents may want to ask the school directly about how its older students are performing, since those numbers are not available in the public record.
Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility applies to a substantial share of the student body, though not a majority. In terms of racial and ethnic composition, the school serves a student population that is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of white students and smaller groups of students who are two or more races or Hispanic. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the state reporting. The school is a charter, which means it operates with some autonomy from the local district and has its own enrollment process.
Charleston is a city shaped by tourism, the port, aerospace, and a growing technology sector. The downtown peninsula is walkable and densely built, with historic landmarks and a strong sense of place. The city has distinct districts — West Ashley, James Island, Cainhoy Peninsula, Daniel Island — each with a different residential character, so where a family lives relative to the school matters. The school is on Race Street in the peninsula area, close to the historic core. Housing costs in the ZIP code covering this part of Charleston are well above state and national averages, and rents are similarly high. A family moving into the area for this school should expect a competitive housing market.
The SC Public Charter School District, which authorizes this school, does not have a set of recent publicly reported policy or curriculum changes that would affect families directly. As a charter authorizer, it oversees a range of independent schools across the state, and each school sets its own programming within state guidelines. Compass Collegiate Academy, like other early elementary charters, defines its own academic approach, calendar, and staffing decisions, so parents should look to the school’s own communications for details on curriculum, class size, and support services.
Because the school stops at third grade, families will need to plan for a transition after that year. There is no data in this profile on what middle school options students typically move on to. The school may have relationships with other Charleston-area charters or may feed into the Charleston County School District for fourth grade onward — that is worth confirming directly.
Overall, this is a small charter serving the primary years in a historically rich, growing city. Its test results from the single published grade show a stronger performance in reading than in math. Many of the typical school performance metrics — year-over-year trends, high school outcomes, advanced offerings — simply do not apply here. A parent considering Compass Collegiate Academy would want to learn more about the school’s instructional model, its plan for students after third grade, and how it serves students who need extra support, since data on special education and English learning is absent from the public record.
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