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What do you wish you knew before starting at SC Connections Academy?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
6,152
Combined
DISTRICT 1,421 · STATE 1,077
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHARTER INSTITUTE AT ERSKINE·NCES 450390901520
SC Connections Academy
201 Executive Center Drive Suite 250, Columbia, SC 29210 · (803) 212-4712 · Lexington County
GRADES KG–12COMBINED21-SUBURBCHARTERVIRTUALREGULAR SCHOOL6,152 STUDENTS
·
allk12 Grade
Not graded
Virtual schools are not graded, because they enroll students from across the state rather than a local area. How grades work
Student : Teacher
23.0:1
268 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.5:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
,
Title I proxy
DISTRICT 25% · STATE 77%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other combined schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 216 | 4% |
| Grade 1 | 224 | 4% |
| Grade 2 | 216 | 4% |
| Grade 3 | 259 | 4% |
| Grade 4 | 276 | 4% |
| Grade 5 | 337 | 5% |
| Grade 6 | 444 | 7% |
| Grade 7 | 533 | 9% |
| Grade 8 | 698 | 11% |
| Grade 9 | 686 | 11% |
| Grade 10 | 785 | 13% |
| Grade 11 | 773 | 13% |
| Grade 12 | 705 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (216) is 69% smaller than its 8th grade class (698).
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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
55.7%
SC avg 59.7% . +4.2pp since 2023
Math
19.8%
SC avg 44.2% . -1.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the SC READY, South Carolina's statewide test, about 56 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 20 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
SC READY results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 55.7% | 19.8% |
| 2023-24 | 51.5% | 21.5% |
% Meets or Exceeds Expectations, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SC READY. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
6,152
-146 (-2%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
23.0:1
was 33.0:1
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 | 6,152 | 267.5 | 23.0:1 | N/A |
| 2023-24 | 5,955 | 254 | 23.4:1 | 48% (2,852) |
| 2022-23 | 6,263 | 221 | 28.3:1 | 50% (3,152) |
| 2020-21 | 6,298 | 191 | 33.0:1 | 43% (2,718) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for SC Connections Academy.
About SC Connections Academy
SC Connections Academy is a school serving multiple grade levels located in Columbia, South Carolina, in Lexington County. It reports enrollment of 6,152 students in kindergarten through 12. That puts enrollment 471% larger than the 1,077-student average for combined schools in South Carolina.
Charter Institute at Erskine has 30 schools and 28,041 students, and SC Connections Academy is one of those schools.
At SC Connections Academy, 63% of students are White. Smaller groups are 20% Black, 9% Hispanic, and 7% multiracial. For comparison, the population of Lexington County is roughly 72% White. The diversity index for SC Connections Academy is 55%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
There are 267.5 full-time-equivalent teachers at SC Connections Academy, giving a ratio of 23.0:1. By comparison, the average for combined schools in South Carolina is 13.7:1.
The school is in Lexington County, where the median household earns about $77,408 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 34% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 9%. SC Connections Academy shares Lexington County with 75 other public schools.
SC Connections Academy is about 0.6 miles from Seven Oaks Elementary, its nearest public school. SC Connections Academy has at least 8 other public schools within five miles.
Locale data from NCES put SC Connections Academy in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more (Suburb: Large). SC Connections Academy holds a charter, making it a public charter school. SC Connections Academy is listed as a virtual school by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Enrollment in 2024-25 was 6,152, close to the 6,298 recorded in 2020-21. Students per teacher dropped from 33.0 in 2020-21 to 23.0 in 2024-25.
On allk12, people connected to SC Connections Academy can post about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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 Charter Institute at Erskine
- Cyber Academy of South CarolinaCombined · 3,280 students
- South Carolina Virtual Charter SchoolCombined · 2,180 students
- American Leadership Academy South Carolina-Lexington CampuCombined · 1,979 students
- Heron Virtual Academy of South CarolinaHigh · 1,439 students
- Gray Collegiate AcademyHigh · 935 students
- Mevers School of ExcellenceElementary · 772 students
Other schools in Columbia
- 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
- E. L. Wright MiddleElementary · 1,275 students
Nearby schools
- Seven Oaks Elementary0.6 mi · 522
- Sandel Elementary1.2 mi · 479
- Pine Grove Elementary1.6 mi · 501
- River Bluff High1.8 mi · 2,117
- Columbia High1.9 mi · 681
- Carolus Online Academy1.9 mi · 1,786
Frequently asked questions
About SC Connections AcademyHow many students attend SC Connections Academy?
SC Connections Academy enrolls approximately 6,152 students in grades KG-12.
Is SC Connections Academy an elementary, middle, or high school?
SC Connections Academy is a combined-grade school covering grades KG-12.
How many students per teacher at SC Connections Academy?
Approximately 23.0:1 students per teacher at SC Connections Academy.
What is the student diversity at SC Connections Academy?
Student demographics at SC Connections Academy are roughly 63% White, 9% Hispanic, 20% Black, 1% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is SC Connections Academy in?
SC Connections Academy is part of Charter Institute at Erskine.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.