The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Social studies. The lowest is 28% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lemira Elementary
Lemira Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Sumter 01 district. It sits in Sumter, a mid-sized city that functions as a regional hub in east-central South Carolina, with a working-city texture shaped by Shaw Air Force Base, a regional medical center, and a mix of manufacturing, aerospace, and biotech industries. Sumter has a recognizable downtown core and more than thirty parks and playgrounds, including Swan Lake Iris Gardens, a signature civic landmark. The city is car-dependent outside its downtown, and its schools, including Lemira Elementary, sit on separate campuses rather than in a single cluster.
The school enrolls a student body of a size that is moderate for an elementary school serving these grade levels. Racially and ethnically, the student population is predominantly Black, with a much smaller share of Hispanic students and a very small share of white students; Asian students and students of two or more races each make up a small portion of the enrollment. Every student at Lemira Elementary qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which places the school in a high-poverty context. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in this profile.
On state assessments, reading performance shows a mixed picture across the tested grades. In grade three, roughly a third of students scored proficient. Grade four was similar, with just over a third proficient. Grade five fell to under a quarter proficient. Across all three tested grades combined, the schoolwide rate in English language arts was around 31 percent. In math, the pattern is one of decline by grade. Grade three saw just under two-fifths of students proficient. Grade four dropped to about a third. Grade five dropped sharply, with about 10 percent proficient. The schoolwide math rate across all three grades was around 29 percent. In science, which is tested only in grade four, about a third of students scored proficient. A social studies result from an earlier year, from a different state test and a different proficiency standard, showed about half of fifth graders proficient, but that data is several years old and not directly comparable to current state assessments.
Given that every student at the school qualifies for free meals under the community eligibility provision, the test results reflect the academic performance of a student body experiencing concentrated poverty. A parent considering Lemira Elementary will want to look into how the school supports early literacy and math foundations, particularly because the math proficiency rate dropped noticeably between fourth and fifth grade. The single-year snapshot does not allow for trend analysis, as only the most recent year’s data was available for reading and math, and the state made changes to its reading and science assessments that limit comparability with prior years.
The comparison fact-set could not place Lemira Elementary relative to other schools in Sumter County, because only one district’s data was available for that county-level comparison. No district-level changes or strategic priorities were found in publicly reported materials, so this account cannot speak to recent initiatives or shifts at the district level.
For a family weighing options, this is a high-poverty elementary school where proficiency rates are below state averages in the subjects and grades tested. The student body is racially and economically concentrated, and the school’s context in Sumter means that housing is relatively affordable by national standards, with home values and rents below state benchmarks. The city has an industrial and military employment base rather than a white-collar professional one, and parents who work at Shaw Air Force Base or in the medical or manufacturing sectors will find a short commute to Lemira Elementary’s location on Fulton Street. The school does not appear to offer magnet or charter designations, and no special programs were listed in the available data. A parent would benefit from visiting the school to understand the specific instructional supports in place, especially in math and reading, and to assess whether the academic environment matches their child’s needs.
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