Royal Live Oaks Academy of the Arts and Sciences Charter Sch, Hardeeville SC

Original Research by School Decision on Royal Live Oaks Academy of the Arts and Sciences Charter Sch

Royal Live Oaks Academy of the Arts and Sciences Charter School serves kindergarten through twelfth grade as a single-campus charter school in Hardeeville, South Carolina, authorized by the Charter Institute at Erskine. The school's name signals an arts and sciences focus, and the available data allows a clear picture of its academic performance, student composition, and the community it draws from.

Hardeeville is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in South Carolina, driven by large planned residential communities and annexation of former timberlands. The city's character is a mix of highway commercial corridors, active retirement communities, and a small historic downtown. It functions as an affordable housing base for workers who commute to Hilton Head Island and Bluffton. The rapid development means the area is in a period of physical and demographic change, with new subdivisions continuing to reshape the community.

Academically, the elementary grades at Royal Live Oaks show a mixed but generally solid performance on state assessments. In third through fifth grades, math and English language arts proficiency rates hover around the halfway mark or just above it, which is reasonable. The fourth grade science proficiency rate is lower, a soft spot that a parent may want to discuss with the school. The middle school grades present a more pronounced challenge. In sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, math proficiency drops sharply, landing well below the elementary scores. English language arts in these same grades holds up better, with seventh grade standing out at a comparatively stronger level. This pattern of a steep drop in middle school math is the most notable academic signal in the data and is something a parent with a child moving into those grades will want to investigate directly, as the cause could be related to the school's curriculum, student transitions, or other factors not captured here. Science proficiency in sixth grade is solid, but in fourth grade it was weaker. A state testing context note: South Carolina changed its cut scores for English language arts and science in this testing year, so direct comparisons to prior years are not possible.

The school recently had only limited data for multi-year trends, with two data points for math and English language arts covering the same year due to a state change, making trend analysis unreliable. High school state assessment data beyond these subjects was not available in this profile. No graduation rate was reported in the source data; the school serves twelfth grade, so this is a notable gap, and a parent should ask the school directly for its four-year graduation rate.

The student body is large for a single campus serving all thirteen grades. A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic need. The student population is majority Hispanic, followed by a meaningful share of Black students and a smaller share of White students, with very small numbers of other racial groups. This composition reflects the local workforce demographics in Hardeeville and the broader Jasper County area. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not included in the source file, which is a gap a parent may want to fill by contacting the school.

The school is a regular public charter school. The Charter Institute at Erskine, the authorizing district, was the subject of a 2025 limited review by the South Carolina Legislative Audit Council, which examined the authorizer's oversight and operations. This state-level review could produce changes in how the school is governed or supported, something families may want to monitor.

For a family considering this school, the elementary grades offer a reasonably solid academic starting point. The middle school math dip is the main academic risk to weigh. The high school has no graduation rate in this data, so a parent of an older child will need to gather that information from the school. The community is growing quickly, adding new housing and residents, which puts the school in a dynamic but unsettled environment. The student body reflects a high-need population, which can mean the school is providing significant support services, though the absence of special education and English learner data here leaves that picture incomplete. This school fits a family that values a single K-12 campus, an arts and sciences theme, and the choice offered by the charter sector, but who will want to do their own digging on the middle school math outcomes, the graduation rate, and the impact of the state audit on the school's operations.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-89%Cohort of 53 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

241 schools plotted. 4 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 41% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 36% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 30% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 30% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 726%

School 26% · District 29% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 25% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 57% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 56% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 58% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 60% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 60% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Science

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 40% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 47% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 56% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 53% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median

This schoolCharter Institute at Erskine, 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.