By admin 
The percentage of South Carolina elementary school students scoring proficient on standardized tests is increasing, and Midlands districts can take some of the credit.
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In each of the past two years, all Richland and Lexington County school districts increased the proportion of students who met or exceeded expectations in English language arts and all but one increased the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations in mathematics, according to SC READY data released by the South Carolina Department of Education.
Lexington School District 1 and Lexington-Richland School District 5, in particular, stand out among local districts as two of the highest achieving in the entire state.
But many excellent schools exist outside top-flight districts. And even within high-achieving districts, academic performance can vary widely between individual schools.
The State Media Co. analyzed 2025-26 SC Ready scores to determine which elementary schools in Richland and Lexington counties were the top performers, as measured by the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations in English language arts and math.
For the purposes of this article, schools that served at least one elementary grade and ranked in the top 20% locally in student proficiency for either subject area were considered top performers.
Top English language arts performers
Despite finishing slightly below the South Carolina average in both English language arts and math, Richland 2 boasted two of the highest-achieving elementary schools in the state.
The district’s crown jewels are its Centers for Knowledge, two gifted and talented magnets on the sites of local middle schools that use the Core Knowledge curriculum and emphasize close relationships and “core values.”
The Center for Knowledge in northeast Columbia, located on the E.L. Wright Middle School campus off Two Notch Road, had the highest English language arts scores of any elementary school in Richland and Lexington counties last year, with nearly 95% of students in grades 3 through 5 meeting or exceeding expectations.
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Clocking in just behind the Center for Knowledge, and also among the best schools in the state for English language arts, was Brockman Elementary in Forest Acres.
More than 94% of students at Brockman, a Richland 1 Montessori with about 290 students in grades K-5, met or exceeded expectations in English language arts last year, according to Department of Education data.
The only other local school where more than 90% of students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts was Richland 2’s other Center for Knowledge campus, located at the Muller Road Middle School site in Blythewood.
Top math performers
The Center for Knowledge North, as the Muller Road Middle School location is called, and Brockman Elementary also led the way in mathematics, as the only local schools where at least 80% of students met or exceeded expectations.
Just behind them, with nearly identical proficiency rates, were two schools with the same name – Lake Murray Elementary – located 17 miles apart on opposite ends of the man-made reservoir.
Lake Murray Elementary in Chapin, part of Lexington-Richland 5, had 79.8% of students meet or exceed expectations in math, while Lake Murray Elementary in Lexington, part of Lexington 1, had 79.7%.
Five other schools in four different Richland and Lexington County districts recorded at least 75% proficiency in math.
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