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What's one thing Harbison West Elementary gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
510
Elementary
DISTRICT 533 · STATE 526
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LEXINGTON 05·NCES 450282001345
Harbison West Elementary
257 Crossbow Drive, Columbia, SC 29212 · (803) 476-3800 · Lexington County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL510 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 51% of South Carolina public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ·Beats expectations Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded South Carolina public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
9.0:1
57 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.0:1 · STATE 13.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
,
Title I proxy
STATE 77%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 72 | 14% |
| Kindergarten | 59 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 64 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 80 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 82 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 79 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (59) is 25% smaller than its 5th grade class (79).
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 62% · STATE 67% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
SC READY 2024-25 . % Meets or Exceeds ExpectationsEnglish Language Arts
59.4%
SC avg 59.7% . +2.8pp since 2023
Math
51.1%
SC avg 44.2% . -3.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the SC READY, South Carolina's statewide test, about 59 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all South Carolina schools, those numbers are about 60 and 44. Reading and writing scores are up about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
SC READY results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 59.4% | 51.1% |
| 2023-24 | 56.6% | 54.9% |
% Meets or Exceeds Expectations, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SC READY. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
Where Harbison West Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Carolina | In Lexington County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.1% | #301 of 635 ▼ 70 | #16 of 33 ▼ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.4% | #327 of 635 ▼ 64 | #20 of 33 ▼ 7 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 510 | #343 of 709 | #23 of 37 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 9.0:1 | #16 of 656 | #2 of 37 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 62.2% | #235 of 656 | #21 of 37 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.1% | #100 of 395 | #3 of 22 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
510
-56 (-10%) vs 2020
-44% since 1990-91, when it was 909
Student : Teacher
9.0:1
was 9.6:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 510 | 56.8 | 9.0:1 | N/A |
| 2023-24 | 507 | 56.8 | 8.9:1 | 100% (507) |
| 2022-23 | 550 | 52.8 | 10.4:1 | 100% (550) |
| 2020-21 | 566 | 59 | 9.6:1 | 100% (566) |
| 2017-18 | 646 | 58.5 | 11.0:1 | 100% (646) |
| 2015-16 | 600 | 45 | 13.3:1 | 62% (371) |
| 2010-11 | 536 | 41 | 13.1:1 | 64% (345) |
| 2000-01 | 737 | 50 | 14.7:1 | 39% (286) |
| 1990-91 | 909 | 51 | 17.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Harbison West Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (646 to 510); teachers down 3% (58.5 to 56.8).
About Harbison West Elementary
Columbia, South Carolina, is home to Harbison West Elementary, a mid-sized elementary school. The school runs pre-K through 5 and enrolls 510 students.
A total of 22 schools make up Lexington 05, with 17,053 students enrolled.
Federal enrollment data show Harbison West Elementary is 56% Black. Next come 22% White, 9% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 3% Asian. The county population is about 15% Black. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 62, compared with 70 nationally.
The school has 56.8 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 9.0 students per teacher. Elementary schools in South Carolina have an average ratio of 13.3:1.
Harbison West Elementary earns a B- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 51% of South Carolina public elementary schools.
Looking at the county, Lexington County, the median household earns about $77,408 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 34%, and about 9% of people live in poverty. Counting Harbison West Elementary, Lexington County has 76 public schools.
CrossRoads Intermediate is about 1.0 miles from Harbison West Elementary, the shortest distance to any other public school. The five-mile area around Harbison West Elementary holds at least 8 other public schools.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Large: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school shrank from 566 students in 2020-21 to 510 in 2024-25.
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Lexington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
304,887
Census ACS
Median income
$77,408
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
76
64,555 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lexington 05
- Dutch Fork HighHigh · 1,703 students
- Chapin HighHigh · 1,617 students
- Irmo HighHigh · 1,272 students
- Spring Hill HighHigh · 1,118 students
- Chapin MiddleMiddle · 1,007 students
- Irmo MiddleMiddle · 992 students
Other schools in Columbia
- SC Connections AcademyCombined · 6,152 students
- Spring Valley HighHigh · 2,230 students
- Carolus Online AcademyCombined · 1,786 students
- Ridge View HighHigh · 1,631 students
- Richland Northeast HighHigh · 1,340 students
- A. C. Flora HighHigh · 1,328 students
Nearby schools
- CrossRoads Intermediate1.0 mi · 557
- Irmo Elementary1.1 mi · 487
- Irmo Middle1.1 mi · 992
- Irmo High1.2 mi · 1,272
- GREEN Charter School Midlands1.6 mi · 258
- Dutch Fork Elementary1.9 mi · 442
Frequently asked questions
About Harbison West ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Harbison West Elementary?
Harbison West Elementary enrolls approximately 510 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Harbison West Elementary serve?
Harbison West Elementary serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Harbison West Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Harbison West Elementary is approximately 9.0:1 (57 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Harbison West Elementary?
Student demographics at Harbison West Elementary are roughly 22% White, 9% Hispanic, 56% Black, 3% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Harbison West Elementary in?
Harbison West Elementary is part of Lexington 05.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.