Greenville County Schools

Overview of the District

Greenville County Schools was awarded district-wide National Accreditation from the AdvancED Accreditation Commission, recognizing it as a high quality school district.  The District is a State leader in school choice, featuring schools of various sizes in urban, suburban and rural settings, and magnet academies offering specialized studies in areas such as communications arts, languages, the arts, and science and mathematics. About 14% of our 70,000 students take advantage of school choice to match their needs and interests.  Graduation rates as of 2011 were 72.2%.  To view other key statistics, please visit Greenville County Schools - Stats, Reports, Etc. 

Key Facts Include:

  • With more than 69,000 students, the Greenville County School District is the largest in the state and 50th largest in the nation.  There are 99 schools and centers.
  • The District has earned National Accreditation from the AdvancED Accreditation Commission.
  • 605 teachers are National Board Certified Teachers (more than 27 states).
  • About 13% or 9,000 students attend school on "choice."
  • Eleven Magnet Academies provide a strong core curriculum enhanced with extensive course work in one of the following disciplines: academic excellence, communication arts, fine arts, international studies, languages, mathematics, pre-engineering technology and health professions, science and technology, and traditional studies.
  • The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program is available for all grade levels and includes an internationally recognized college preparatory degree program.
  • Unique learning experiences are offered at the A.J. Whittenberg School of Engineering, the Fine Arts Center, Roper Mountain Science Center, and the Sterling School with Charles Townes Gifted Center.
  • The District is a recipient of the Kennedy Center/National School Boards Association Award for Support of the Arts in Education.
  • Thirteen schools have been named National Blue Ribbon Schools by the United States Department of Education.
  • Twenty schools have been awarded the "Palmetto's Finest Award," presented annually to South Carolina’s top schools.
  • Forty-eight schools have been named “Red Carpet Schools,” an annual Customer Friendly Award.  Twenty-eight schools are PTA National Schools of Excellence.
  • Greenville County has a nationally recognized building program.
  • Seven of 14 Public High Schools in Greenville County plus the Governor’s School for Art and Humanities were named Newsweek’s Best High Schools in 2010.

District Highlights and Specialized Programs

Magnet Academies

Eleven Magnet Academies offer unique educational choices to the students of Greenville County.  Magnet schools offer specialized curriculum in languages, math, science and technology, communication arts, international studies, traditional studies, pre-engineering, and health professions.

www.greenville.k12.sc.us/district/schools/select.asp

Sterling School with Charles Townes Gifted Center

The Charles Townes Gifted Center provides gifted and talented students in grades 3 thru 8 with a highly challenging, full-time instructional program that enriches, accelerates, and extends the program of studies in Greenville County Schools.

www.greenville.k12.sc.us/gifted/index.asp

A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering

A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School is the most technologically advanced elementary school in Greenville County. The innovation is apparent in many ways – from its downtown location on the Reedy River, to the partnership with the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center, to the learning emphasis as an engineering school.

http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/ajw/

Roper Mountain Science Center

The Roper Mountain Science Center offers hands-on learning experiences in the sciences.  The 62-acre Center offers science education programs, nature trails, a sea life center, an observatory, and a planetarium.  The Observatory features a 23” refractor telescope, the eighth largest of its kind in the nation.

Because the Center is a facility of the School District of Greenville County, the primary program participants are the county’s school children.  Programs in all areas of science correlate to the science curriculum of the District and provide reinforcement for concepts studied in the classroom.

www.ropermountain.org/

The Fine Arts Center of Greenville County

The Fine Arts Center of Greenville County is the first public fine arts school in South Carolina, established in 1974.  Students apply to the Center and are selected on the basis of talent, interest, motivation, and commitment to their discipline and are able to study theatre, dance, visual arts, music, music engineering, creative writing, and digital film making.  Each year over 400 students attend the Fine Arts Center and, of that number, over 95 percent go on to higher education.

www.fineartscenter.net/

The International Baccalaureate Program

Greenville County Schools offers the full range of K-12 IB continuum: Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma. The K-12 IB sequence of study is offered in four different geographical areas of the county. With the exception of Beck Middle Academy and Southside High (Middle Years/Diploma), all other IB schools primarily serve their home-based populations. All students in grades K-5 though 10 enrolled in an IB school automatically participate in the program.  No screening or testing is required.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (DP) is a comprehensive, rigorous, international curriculum, leading to examinations, for students in grades 11 and 12. It provides students of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds with the intellectual, social, and critical perspectives necessary for the world that lies ahead of them. Students who successfully complete the requirements for this program earn the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma. In the United States, the IB is valued as an honors program which leads to advanced standing and college credits at the world’s finest colleges and universities.

http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/gcsd/schools/ib.asp

Non-Traditional

A variety of non-traditional offerings are available including credit recovery, Twilight High School and Virtual School.

South Carolina International Schools        

  • Die Deutsche Schule Spartanburg operates Saturday classes at USC Upstate for German-speaking students.
  • Ecole Francaise in Greenville teaches children of Greenville’s native-speaking French Monday through Friday in such subjects as math, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, German, French, Spanish, and English.
  • The Greenville Area Japanese Saturday School draws students from throughout the Upstate.
  • The Chinese School meets on Sunday afternoons providing opportunities for children to learn the Chinese language and cultural arts.

The Baldridge in Education Initiative

The Baldridge in Education Initiative has been implemented to foster continuous improvement in the school system.  Currently, there are 33 Baldridge Model Schools.

  • Baldridge-based systems focus on success through leadership, strategic planning, and goal setting.  In education, the Baldridge model focuses on continuous improvement in student performance driven by a cycle of investigation, implementation, and evaluation.  From kindergarten up, the system implies that students work with teachers to set performance goals, track performance with charts or graphs, and make changes to improve success.

http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/gcsd/depts/hr/pd/balridge.asp