SUMMARY
Greenville County schools provide opportunities for students in a number of courses of study. From standard college and vocational prep, to more focused arts and humanities studies – the public schools in Greenville County live up to the national recognition that many of them receive.
ARTICLE
Serving a large portion of the population of Upstate South Carolina, Greenville County schools have over 72,000 students in 82 different schools. The Greenville County School District is the largest school district in the state of South Carolina and employs over 8,500 people with almost 4,800 faculty members.
Ranked among the highest in the state of South Carolina – Greenville County schools continually achieve recognition for academic excellence. They have a variety of programs and educational tracks that prepare students in a number of different fields. Five of the high schools in the district have also been named by Newsweek as top schools in the nation.
Among the Greenville County schools are six elementary schools and two middle schools that were named by the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee as schools that are actively reducing the achievement gap for historically underachieving student groups. Minorities in these elementary schools are continually scoring higher on state wide testing. Programs initiated by the state and faculty are looking at new ways to improve education for student groups across the board.
In the top ranking high schools in the Greenville County School District – students taking the SAT college entrance exams are scoring higher than the national average. In 2009 – five high school students in the district were named by the U.S. Department of Education as candidates for the highly coveted Presidential Scholars Program. Approximately 20% of the AP exams taken in the state of South Carolina were taken by students in the Greenville County schools. Almost half of those exams taken achieved scores high enough to earn college credit.
One of the public high schools in the district specializes in providing emerging artists with a supportive academic and artistic curriculum. The South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities is a high school located in Greenville. Courses of study at this residential high school emphasize and include Creative Writing, Dance, Drama, Music, and the Visual Arts. There is no tuition to attend the program – though students do have to apply and audition for admission. It is the ability to provide forward thinking programs and opportunities like this that have gained the school district national recognition and achievement awards.
Along with the arts programs available at the Governor’s School – there is also an International Baccalaureate program at another of the district’s high schools, Southside High School. Many international students attend this program which offers internationally focused studies for students in the program. This program has been recognized as a leader in the area by Newsweek magazine as well.
Greenville County schools are among the best in South Carolina, as well as the nation. Educationally innovative programs help students achieve higher scores and prepare them for college studies as well as vocational programs. For more information on specific schools and programs – you can visit the Greenville County School District’s web site at http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/index.asp.
Updated: January, 2010