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Elementary and Secondary Schools
There are four school districts serving about 87,500 students in the Charleston Metropolitan Area. Berkeley County, Charleston County, Dorchester II, and Dorchester IV collectively operate 134 schools serving grades K-12. Charleston County has the largest enrollment of the four. Charleston County's average SAT score in 2004 for college-bound seniors was 964, compared to a U.S. average of 1,026. The 2004 South Carolina Annual Report Card for the Charleston County schools assigned an Absolute Rating of "good" based on student test scores and an Improvement Rating of " average" which compares student test scores from one year to the next.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Charleston County School District for the 2003–2004 school year.
Total enrollment: 42,226
Number of facilities elementary schools: 42
middle schools: 13
senior high schools: 8
other: 4
charter schools, 12
magnet schools, and 8
alternative programs
Student/teacher ratio: 21:1
Teacher salaries average: $40,092
Funding per pupil: $7,661
In addition, about 11,200 students are educated at nearly 75 private and parochial schools in the region, including the exclusive Charleston Day School, where children from Charleston's oldest families matriculate.
Public Schools Information: Center for Business Research, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, 81 Mary Street, PO Box 975, Charleston, SC 29402-0975; telephone (843)805-3042; fax (843)723-4853
Colleges and Universities
Students can choose from among 17 institutions of higher learning in the Charleston region. The Medical University of South Carolina, the South's oldest medical school, has five health-related colleges. The College of Charleston offers 34 undergraduate degree programs; in conjunction with the college, the University of Charleston offers 15 graduate degree programs. The Charleston Air Force Base is home to four academic institutions. Webster University, a St. Louis-based facility granting master's degrees, offers courses in business and management, liberal arts and sciences, and fine arts. City Colleges of Chicago, Southern Illinois University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University also have campuses on the base. Johnson and Wales University at Charleston offers bachelor and associate degrees in the culinary arts and hospitality management. Trident Technical College is a two-year institution that emphasizes training in job skills and offers 150 programs of study. Charleston Southern University enrolls about 2,990 students in its College of Arts and Science, ROTC program, and schools of business, education, and nursing. Southern Wesleyan University offers accelerated learning programs for working adults. Limestone College offers bachelor's and associate's degrees in several disciplines, including art, biology, and computer science. Miller-Motte Technical College offers both certificate and college degree programs in art direction, accounting, design and photography, among others. Springfield College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in 50 majors and programs. In addition, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, a four-year liberal arts school with a strict military structure, is also located in Charleston. Voorhees College is a private, historically African American, coeducational, liberal arts school affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The Charleston School of Law is the city's newest addition to its academic institutions. Opened in August 2004, the law school enrolled 200 students in its first class.
Libraries and Research Centers
The city of Charleston is served by the Charleston County Library, the first public library in the country, with 16 branch libraries and a traveling bookmobile. The library system houses about 2.2 million catalogued items including books, magazine subscriptions, compact discs, records, videotapes, films and film strips, cassettes, as well as an excellent collection of Charleston and South Carolina historical and genealogical materials. It maintains a complete business reference library, as well as legal resources pertaining to federal, state, and local law. Research centers affiliated with area academic institutions conduct activities in such fields as pharmacology and toxicology, marine biomedicine, public affairs and policy studies, and medicine.
Public Library Information: Charleston County Library, 68 Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC 29401; (843)805-6801
