These Beaufort Co. high schools are among best in SC, report says. Bluffton’s on top.
Schools may be closed, but students and teachers across Beaufort County still have a reason to celebrate: Bluffton’s two high schools and Hilton Head Island’s were ranked in the top 25 of South Carolina high schools in U.S. News and World Report’s 2020 Best Schools report.
Bluffton High School led the pack, coming in at No. 8 in the state. Hilton Head Island and May River High School followed behind, coming in at Nos. 20 and 24, respectively.
Blufton High principal Denise Donica called the ranking “awesome,” pointing out that her school’s scores have improved since the data used in the report.
“I found out about this, and I sent an email to the staff at 10:30 at night, I was so excited,” she said.
U.S. News ranked schools using 2017-18 school year data, taking into account several factors:
Proportion of a school’s 12th graders who took and passed AP or IB exams
Math and reading test scores
Outcomes for black, Hispanic and low-income students
Graduation rates
In the U.S. News data, Bluffton High has a graduation rate of 87 percent, with a student body that’s 44% low-income and 62% minorities.
“We have a big diversity in our student population,” Donica said. “To be able to have that and be at the top 10 in the state, that’s really great.”
The school’s test scores were well above district and statewide averages — 82% of Bluffton High students were proficient in reading exams, and 89% were proficient in math.
Donica said many of the students who were measured for this ranking are still at the school — the math scores are based on Algebra 1, which is mainly taken by 9th graders.
“What makes me feel great is we’ve improved every year,” she said.
Beaufort, Battery Creek, and Whale Branch Early College High School came in at Nos. 40, 56 and 96 in the state, respectively.
This year’s rankings are a shake-up from 2019, when Bluffton High came in 31st in the state, behind Hilton Head Island High (14), May River High (20) and Beaufort High (27).
And while Bluffton and May River High School may be town rivals — May River opened in 2016 as a response to overcrowding at Bluffton — there could be new competition in Bluffton soon.
In a February presentation, district chief operations officer Robert Oetting, the district “should be building a new school every two to three years” to keep up with growth in Bluffton.
Without rezoning or construction, Oetting said Bluffton will need between 108 and 152 new mobile classrooms just to house students in the next five years, depending on participation in the district’s school choice program and actual classroom uses, or programmatic capacity, versus building capacity.
Currently, Bluffton and May River High are at 85 and 97% capacity, respectively.