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McCormick High

McCormick · SC · McCormick 01 · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 44% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 52th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 74% (Bottom 17% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How McCormick High compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • LocallySC sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: SC Governor's School for Agriculture at John de la Howe, Abbeville County Career Center, Abbeville High and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

52th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
75
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
39.1
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 17% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
74%
Range: 70–79%
4-year cohort size
54
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
4.8%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
9.5%
Around the national average. Worth watching.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

-1.6%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
22.9%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
44
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
263:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
0.7
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
19
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +0.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 192 students:

2025
193
2027
195
2029
197

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
SC Governor's School for Agriculture at John de la Howe
McCormick
Public 10.3 81 +32.8%
Abbeville County Career Center
Abbeville
Public 22.1
Abbeville High
Abbeville
Public 22.8 463 -0.6%
Emerald High
Greenwood
Public 22.8 887 +2.8%
Strom Thurmond High
Johnston
Public 23.9 720 -1.1%
Strom Thurmond Career and Technology Center
Johnston
Public 23.9
Cambridge Academy
Greenwood
Private 24.1 264 +41.9%
Calhoun Falls Charter School
Calhoun Falls
Public · charter 24.5 93 +10.7%

For Parents

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